THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 


The 
Religious  Life  of 
Famous  Americans 

By 

LOUIS  ALBERT  BANKS,  D.D. 

Author  of  "  The  King's  Stewards  "  and 
"  Soul-Winning  Stories  " 

AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY 

150  NASSAU  STREET 
BOSTON                NEW  YORK              CHICAGO 

COPYRIGHT,    1904, 
BY   AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY 


BURR  PRINTING  HOUSE 
NEW  YORK 


o 
o 


Ul 

I 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER. 

I.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

II.  RUFUS   CHOATE       . 

III.  SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE 

IV.  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  . 

V.  JAMES    ABRAM    GARFIELD 

VI.  WILLIAM    MCKINLEY       . 

VII.  EMMA  WILLARD     .  .          »"' 

VIII.  DANIEL  WEBSTER  .  .  . 

IX.  MARY  LYON  .  '         „ 

X.  HENRY   CLAY  ... 

XI.  STONEWALL  JACKSON   . 

XII.  WASHINGTON  IRVING     . 

XIII.  CYRUS  WEST  FIELD 

XIV.  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 
XV.  ANDREW  JACKSON 

XVI.  ELISHA   KENT    KANE     . 

XVII.  ABIGAIL  ADAMS     .  ."          . 

XVIII.  WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT  . 

XIX.  FRANCES   ELIZABETH    WILLARD 

XX.  BENJAMIN  HARRISON    .          . 


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A  FIRST  WORD  WITH  THE  READER. 

LIFE  is  ever  the  greatest  teacher.  The  story 
of  great  men  is  of  absorbing  interest,  not  only 
to  youth  but  to  thinking  men  at  every  stage  of 
their  lives.  The  political  biographer  is  not 
likely  to  make  much  of  the  personal  religious 
character  of  the  man  the  story  of  whose 
political  honor  and  ambitious  career  he 
seeks  to  narrate.  So  that  it  often  happens  that 
a  public  man  whose  religious  life  was  most  de- 
vout and  who  drew  the  nourishment  for  his 
most  splendid  deeds  from  the  hidden  springs 
of  worship  and  communion  with  God,  stands 
in  the  eye  of  the  multitude  as  an  unknown 
quantity  religiously.  It  has  been  the  purpose 
of  the  author  in  these  chapters  to  present  in  the 
case  of  the  score  of  men  and  women  whose 
lives  are  studied  the  religious  side  of  their 
career.  Such  information  has  been  sought 
from  every  quarter  available,  and  is  presented 
in  a  way  which  it  is  hoped  will  picture  the 
truthful  and  helpful  Christian  personality  of 
each  character  portrayed. 

Louis  ALBERT  BANKS. 
WEST  NYACK,  N.  Y.,  July  8,  1904. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

AMONG  the  interesting  things  shown  in  the 
Lincoln  Museum  in  the  Capital  City  of  the 
nation  is  an  old  copy  of  the  Bible.  No  one 
can  look  at  its  well-thumbed  pages  without 
being  assured  that  it  has  been  much  studied. 
If  you  will  look  on  the  inside  of  the  cover, 
you  will  find  these  words,  written  by  the 
famous  man  who  once  owned  it :  "A.  Lincoln, 
his  own  book." 

Throughout  his  life,  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
a  devout  student  of  the  Bible.  In  his  young 
manhood,  when  writing  to  his  brother  about 
his  father's  sickness,  he  uses  these  words :  "He 
notes  the  fall  of  the  sparrow  and  numbers  the 
hairs  of  our  heads."  In  all  his  early  speeches, 
both  at  the  bar  and  on  the  political  stump,  he 


4  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

quoted  from  the  Bible  more  than  from  any 
other  book,  and  he  kept  this  up  until  the  end 
of  his  life.  Indeed,  after  he  came  to  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States  and  upon  his  shoul- 
ders were  laid  such  heavy  burdens,  his  religious 
life  was  evidently  greatly  intensified  and  deep- 
ened. About  a  year  before  the  tragic  end  of 
his  career  on  earth,  he  wrote  to  his  friend, 
Joshua  Speed:  "I  am  profitably  engaged  in 
reading  the  Bible.  Take  all  of  this  book  upon 
reason  that  you  can,  and  the  balance  on  faith, 
and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 

After  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  the 
colored  people  of  Baltimore  presented  Mr. 
Lincoln  with  a  handsome  copy  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  responded  in  these  words:  "In 
regard  to  the  great  book,  I  have  only  to  say 
that  it  is  the  best  gift  which  God  has  given 
to  man.  All  the  good  from  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  is  communicated  through  this  book." 

Mr.  Lincoln's  faith  in  God,  his  confidence 
in  him  as  the  author  of  the  Bible,  is  brought 
out  in  strongest  light  in  his  second  inaugural 
address.  This  tremendous  paragraph  stands  as 
an  immortal  testimony  to  the  great  man's  reli- 
ance and  faith  in  God  and  his  Word : 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  '5 

"Both  read  the  same  Bible  and  pray  to  the 
same  God,  and  each  invokes  his  aid  against 
the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  man 
should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in 
wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not  that  we  be 
not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could  not 
be  answered.  That  of  neither  has  been  an- 
swered fully.  The  Almighty  has  his  own  pur- 
poses. 'Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  of- 
fences, for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come : 
but  woe  to  the  man  by  whom  the  offence 
cometh.'  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American 
slavery  is  one  of  these  offences,  which  in  the 
providence  of  God  must  needs  come,  but  which, 
having  continued  through  his  appointed  time, 
he  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  he  gives  to 
both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as 
the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence 
came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure 
from  those  divine  attributes  which  the  be- 
lievers in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that 
this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  soon  pass 
away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  shall  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two 


6  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall 
be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn 
with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  with  another  drawn 
with  the  sword;  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  it  still  must  be  said,  'The  judg- 
ments of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether.'  " 

One  of  the  strong  writers  of  that  day,  com- 
menting on  the  Christian  spirit  and  faith 
breathed  from  Lincoln's  second  inaugural,  said : 
"Since  the  days  of  Christ's  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  where  is  the  speech  of  emperor,  king, 
or  ruler  which  can  compare  with  this  ?  May  we 
not,  without  irreverence,  say  that  passages  of 
this  address  are  worthy  of  that  holy  Book 
which  daily  he  read,  and  from  which,  during 
his  long  days  of  trial,  he  had  drawn  inspiration 
and  guidance  ?  Where  else  but  from  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Son  of  God  could  he  have  drawn 
the  Christian  charity  which  pervades  the  last 
sentence,  in  which  he  so  unconsciously  describes 
his  own  moral  nature:  'With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the 
right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right'  ?  No 
other  state  paper  in  American  annals,  not  even 
Washington's  farewell  address,  has  made  so 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  7 

deep  an  impression  upon  the  people  as  this. 
.  .  .  This  paper  in  its  solemn  recognition 
of  the  justice  of  Almighty  God  reminds  us 
of  the  words  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets." 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  a  most  devout  faith  in 
prayer.  General  James  F.  Rusling  gives  a  most 
interesting  account  of  a  call  he  and  General 
Daniel  E.  Sickles  made  upon  him  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Gettysburg.  During  the  conversation 
General  Sickles  asked  if  the  President  and  the 
Cabinet  had  not  been  anxious  about  the  bat- 
tle? Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  the  Cabinet  had, 
but  he  had  not;  and  he  then  went  on  to  make 
a  confession  that  in  the  very  pinch  and  stress 
of  the  Gettysburg  campaign  he  had  gone  to 
the  Almighty  in  secret  prayer.  He  said  he 
told  the  Lord  this  was  his  country,  and  the 
war  was  his  war,  but  that  we  could  not  stand 
another  Fredericksburg  or  Chancellorsville ; 
and  that  he  then  and  there  made  a  solemn  vow 
with  his  Maker  that  if  he  would  stand  by  us 
at  Gettysburg,  he  would  stand  by  him;  and 
then  he  added :  "And  he  did,  and  I  will!"  He 
said  that  after  he  had  prayed  he  could  not 
explain  how  it  was,  but  a  sweet  comfort  had 
crept  into  his  soul  that  God  Almighty  had 


8  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

taken  the  whole  business  there  into  his  hands, 
and  we  were  bound  to  win  at  Gettysburg. 

Mr.  Lincoln  returned  again  to  the  subject 
of  prayer  in  that  same  conversation  with 
Sickles  and  Rusling,  saying  that  he  did  not 
want  it  repeated  then ;  some  might  laugh ;  but  it 
was  a  solemn  fact  that  he  prayed  mightily  over 
both  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg,  and  verily  be- 
lieved our  Heavenly  Father  was  somehow 
going  to  take  care  of  the  American  Republic. 
At  the  time  of  this  conversation  President  Lin- 
coln did  not  know  that  Vicksburg  had  already 
been  captured. 

No  public  man  ever  more  clearly  empha- 
sized his  faith  in  God  in  his  public  addresses, 
as  well  as  in  his  private  conversation  and  let- 
ters, than  did  Abraham  Lincoln.  When  he 
started  from  Springfield,  111.,  to  take  his  jour- 
ney to  Washington  to  become  President,  a 
large  number  of  the  citizens  of  Springfield, 
together  with  his  neighbors  and  friends,  gath- 
ered at  the  station  to  bid  him  farewell.  Stand- 
ing on  the  platform  of  the  car,  and  speaking 
with  deep  emotion,  he  said : 

"My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  position  can 
realize  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  9 

this  people  I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have 
lived  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Here 
my  children  were  born  and  here  one  of  them 
lies  buried.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see 
you  again.  I  go  to  assume  a  task  more  difficult 
than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other 
man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  never 
would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of 
divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times 
relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without 
the  same  divine  blessing  which  sustained  him ; 
and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my 
reliance  for  support.  And  I  hope  you,  my 
friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  the 
divine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  suc- 
ceed, but  with  which  success  is  certain." 

The  journey  which  Lincoln  took  to  Wash- 
ington will  always  be  historic.  At  every  station 
the  people  gathered  and  at  every  stop  Mr. 
Lincoln  spoke,  and  the  key-note  of  all  his 
speeches  was  his  faith  in  God  and  his  hope  for 
the  divine  guidance.  In  his  address  at  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  he  said :  "I  turn  then  to  God  for  sup- 
port, who  has  never  forsaken  the  people."  At 
Steubenville  he  said :  "Nothing  shall  be  want- 
ing on  my  part,  if  sustained  by  the  American 


io  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

people  and  God."  At  Buffalo,  N.  Y. :  "I  am 
trusting  in  that  Supreme  Being  who  has  never 
forsaken  this  favored  land."  At  Albany  he 
said :  "I  still  have  confidence  that  the  Almighty, 
the  Maker  of  the  universe,  will  bring  us  through 
this."  At  Newark,  N.  J.,  he  said :  "I  am  sure, 
however,  that  I  have  not  the  ability  to  do  any- 
thing unaided  of  God."  At  Trenton  he  said : 
"I  shall  be  most  happy  indeed  if  I  shall  be  a 
humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Al- 
mighty and  of  this  his  most  chosen  people  as 
the  chosen  instrument,  also  in  the  hands  of 
the  Almighty,  of  perpetuating  the  object  of 
that  great  struggle."  At  Philadelphia,  where 
the  last  address  was  made  before  reaching 
Washington,  he  used  these  words :  "I  have  said 
nothing  but  that  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and, 
if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  die  by." 
While  these  utterances  are  sufficient  to  prove 
beyond  all  doubt  Mr.  Lincoln's  reverent  faith 
in  God,  it  is  certainly  a  matter  of  comfort  to 
all  sincere  Christian  hearts  that  we  have  abun- 
dant evidence  that  during  his  Presidency  of 
the  United  States  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  a 
definite,  personal  relation  with  Jesus  Christ  as 
his  Saviour  and  Lord. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  11 

Mr.  Noah  Brooks,  who  was  a  bosom  friend 
of  Lincoln,  says  that,  while  he  never  tried  to 
draw  anything  like  a  statement  of  his  religious 
views  from  him,  Mr.  Lincoln  freely  expressed 
to  him  "his  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality 
through  Jesus  Christ." 

Mr.  Frank  Carpenter,  the  painter,  who  had 
unusual  opportunities  for  private  conversation 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  relates  that  a  lady  in  the 
service  of  the  Christian  Commission  called  on 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  a  number  of  occasions  on  the 
business  of  the  Commission.  On  one  occasion 
their  conversation  turned  to  the  subject  of 
religion.  The  President  asked  this  good 
woman  to  give  her  views  as  to  what  constituted 
a  religious  experience,  and  she  readily  con- 
sented. After  she  had  clearly  set  forth  her 
views,  Mr.  Lincoln  responded  as  follows:  "If 
what  you  have  told  me  is  really  a  correct  view 
of  this  subject,  I  think  I  can  say  with 
sincerity  that  I  hope  that  I  am  a  Christian. 
I  had  lived  until  my  boy  Willie  died  without 
fully  realizing  these  things.  That  blow  over- 
whelmed me.  It  showed  me  my  weakness  as 
I  never  felt  it  before,  and  if  I  can  take  what 
you  have  stated  as  a  test,  I  think  I  can  safely 


12  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

say  that  I  know  something  of  that  change  of 
which  you  speak.  I  will  further  add  that  it 
has  been  my  intention  for  some  time  at  a  suit- 
able opportunity  to  make  a  public  religious 
confession." 

On  another  occasion,  speaking  to  Mr.  Noah 
Brooks,  to  whom  reference  has  already  been 
made,  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "When  any  church 
would  inscribe  over  its  altars  as  its  sole  quali- 
fication for  membership  the  Saviour's  con- 
densed statement  of  the  substance  of  both  law 
and  gospel,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,' 
that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
all  my  soul." 

Colonel  Henry  Watterson,  in  his  remarkable 
lecture  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  has  this  eloquent 
paragraph  expressing  his  faith  in  the  divine 
guidance  and  inspiration  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
in  which  all  Christians  may  unite.  Mr.  Wat- 
terson says  of  him : 

"Born  as  lowly  as  the  Son  of  God,  reared 
in  penury  and  squalor,  with  no  gleam  of  light 
nor  fair  surroundings,  it  was  reserved  for  this 
strange  being,  late  in  life,  without  fame  or 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  13 

name  or  seeming  preparation,  to  be  snatched 
from  obscurity,  raised  to  a  supreme  command 
at  a  supreme  moment,  and  intrusted  with  the 
destiny  of  a  nation.  Where  did  Shakespeare 
get  his  genius?  Where  did  Mozart  get  his 
music?  Whose  hands  smote  the  lyre  of  the 
Scottish  plowman  and  stayed  the  life  of  the 
German  priest?  God  alone;  and  as  surely  as 
these  were  raised  by  God,  inspired  of  God  was 
Abraham  Lincoln.  A  thousand  years  hence, 
no  story,  no  tragedy,  no  epic  poem  will  be  filled 
with  greater  wonder  than  that  which  tells  of 
his  life  and  death.  If  Lincoln  was  not  inspired 
of  God,  then  there  is  no  such  thing  on  earth 
as  special  providence  or  the  interposition  of 
divine  power  in  the  affairs  of  men." 


RUFUS     CHOATE 


RUFUS    CHOATE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

RUFUS  CHOATE. 

RUFUS  CHOATE,  one  of  the  greatest  of 
America's  lawyers  as  well  as  one  of  her  most 
famous  orators,  seems  to  have  been  born  into 
the  world  with  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  with 
his  first  reading  came  the  Bible.  In  the  village 
library  of  the  little  town  of  Ipswich,  Mass., 
where  he  spent  his  childhood,  he  found  such 
books  as  "Rollin's  Ancient  History,"  "Jo- 
sephus,"  "Plutarch,"  and  these  and  many  other 
books  of  a  similar  nature  he  read  before  he 
was  ten  years  old.  During  all  these  early  years 
the  Bible  was  read  and  re-read  with  more  than 
ordinary  thoughtfulness,  and  early  in  the  War 
of  1812  he  made  what  he  thought  was  the 
great  discovery  of  an  undoubted  prophecy  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  in  the  book  of  Daniel. 


1 8  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

He  was  at  the  same  time  an  attentive  and  criti- 
cal hearer  of  sermons,  even  when  the  minister 
was  dull.  "When  about  nine  years  old,"  says 
his  brother,  "he  took  us  all  by  surprise  one 

Sabbath  noon,  by  saying,  'Mr. (naming 

the  preacher)  had  better  mind  what  he  says 
about  James  (the  apostle),  even  James,'  re- 
peating the  words  emphatically.  The  minister 
had  been  quoting  Paul,  and  added,  'even  James 
says,  For  what  is  your  life?'  The  remark  went 
to  show  us  (the  family)  not  only  that  he  had 
been  attentive  to  what  had  been  said  ( which  we 
had  not  been),  but  that  he  saw  an  objection 
to  the  comparison,  implied,  at  least,  between 
the  two  apostles,  both  of  whom  were 
inspired." 

The  moral  discipline  of  the  family  where 
Rufus  Choate  grew  up  was  careful  and  exact. 
A  portion  of  the  Catechism  was  recited  every 
Sabbath,  and  the  lessons  thus  learned  were 
so  deeply  engraved  on  his  memory  as  never  to 
be  forgotten.  On  one  occasion  in  later  life, 
in  commenting  upon  the  testimony  of  a  witness 
who  professed  his  willingness  to  do  any  job 
that  might  offer  on  Sunday,  just  as  he  would 
on  any  other  day,  Mr.  Choate  repeated,  word 


RUFUS  CHOATE.  19 

for  word,  one  of  the  long  answers  of  the'  Cate- 
chism on  the  import  of  the  Fourth  Command- 
ment, and  then  turning  to  the  Court,  said, 
"May  it  please  your  honor,  my  mother  taught 
me  this  in  my  earliest  childhood,  and  I  trust 
I  shall  not  forget  it  in  my  age." 

After  young  Choate  left  college  he  spent  a 
year  in  the  office  of  William  E.  Wirt,  in  Wash- 
ington. Mr.  Wirt  was  then  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  association  with 
him  furnished  great  opportunity  for  the  young 
lawyer.  Writing  to  an  old  college  chum  dur- 
ing this  year,  this  significant  sentence  occurs 
in  his  letter,  "I  read  every  day  some  chapters  in 
the  English  Bible."  This  early  religious  teach- 
ing and  Bible  reading  produced,  as  it  always 
will,  strength  of  conscience.  An  educated  con- 
science was  Rufus  Choate' s  supreme  master. 
The  story  is  told  that  on  one  very  stormy  night, 
during  his  residence  in  Danvers,  Mass.,  he  was 
called  upon  at  a  late  hour  to  draw  the  will  of 
a  dying  man  who  lived  several  miles  distant. 
He  went,  performed  the  service,  and  returned 
home.  But  after  going  to  bed,  as  he  lay  re- 
volving in  his  mind  each  provision  of  the  paper 
he  had  so  rapidly  prepared,  there  flashed  across 


20  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

his  memory  an  omission  that  might  possibly 
cause  the  testator's  intention  to  be  misunder- 
stood. He  sprang  from  his  bed  and  began 
dressing  himself  rapidly,  to  the  great  surprise 
of  his  wife,  only  answering  her  inquiries  by 
saying  that  he  had  done  what  must  be  undone, 
and  in  the  thick  of  the  storm  rode  again  to  his 
dying  client,  explained  the  reason  of  his  return, 
and  drew  a  codicil  to  the  will  which  made 
everything  sure. 

He  related  this  incident  in  after  life,  saying 
that  sometimes,  years  after  a  case  had  been 
tried,  he  would  feel  a  pang  of  reproach  that 
he  had  not  urged  some  argument  which  at  that 
moment  flashed  across  his  mind.  He  always 
fought  his  lost  cases  over  again,  to  see  if  he 
could  find  any  argument  whereby  he  might 
have  gained  them. 

Mr.  Choate's  biographer,  Samuel  Oilman 
Brown,  a  former  president  of  Hamilton  Col- 
lege, gives  a  very  touching  and  graphic  de- 
scription of  the  incidents  connected  with  the 
death  of  a  little  girl  but  three  years  of  age, 
which  sets  forth  very  tenderly  the  Christian 
faith  and  feeling  of  the  great  lawyer.  Rev. 
Dr.  Adams,  who  was  pastor  of  the  family, 


RUFUS  CHOATE.  21 

was  away  from  home,  and  so  Mr.  Choate 
wrote  a  letter  which  he  sent  by  a  special  mes- 
senger to  Rev.  Hubbard  Winslow,  asking  him 
to  come  immediately. 

"Entering  the  chamber,"  says  Dr.  Winslow, 
"at  the  appointed  time,  I  found  the  family 
all  assembled.  A  beautiful  little  girl  of  per- 
haps three  years  lay  dying.  We  all  kneeled 
in  prayer,  and  after  a  few  remarks  I  was 
about  to  retire,  to  leave  the  weeping  family 
to  the  sacredness  of  their  domestic  sorrow, 
when  Mr.  Choate  took  my  hand  and  besought 
me  to  remain  with  them  while  the  child  lived. 
I  consented  to  remain  until  evening,  when  I  had 
another  engagement.  He  stood  by  the  fire- 
place, resting  his  elbows  on  the  marble,  with 
his  face  in  his  hands,  evidently  absorbed  in 
prayer;  Mrs.  Choate  was  bending  over  the 
pillow  with  the  yearning  tenderness  of  a 
mother,  and  the  older  children  and  servants 
stood  around  in  silent  grief,  while  I  sat  by 
the  bedside,  observing  the  child's  symptoms, 
and  sometimes  repeating  a  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture or  a  pertinent  stanza  of  poetry.  Thus 
a  full  hour  passed  in  silence,  in  prayer,  in  tears, 
in  communion  with  death  and  eternity,  Mr. 


22  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Choate  remaining  motionless  as  a  statue  during 
the  whole  time.  Perceiving  the  pulse  failing 
and  the  breath  becoming  very  short  and  diffi- 
cult, I  said,  'Mr.  Choate,  I  fear  the  dear  child 
is  just  leaving  us.'  He  then  came  to  the  bed- 
side, embraced  her,  kissed  her  three  times,  and 
then  turned  and  resumed  his  position  as  be- 
fore. All  the  family  followed  him  in  a  parting 
kiss.  A  few  moments  after,  the  angel  spirit 
fled.  I  closed  the  sightless  eyes  and  said,  'My 
dear  Mr.  Choate,  your  sweet  child  is  in  heaven !' 
He  burst  instantly  into  a  flood  of  tears,  and 
sobbed  aloud.  He  did  not  change  his  position, 
but  remained  with  his  face  buried  in  his  hands 
and  the  tears  pouring  like  rain  drops  upon  the 
hearthstone.  And  thus  he  continued,  until  duty 
compelled  me  to  leave  the  chamber  of  death. 
He  then  came  and  thanked  me,  and  said  with 
deep  emotion,  'I  feel  greatly  comforted.  My 
dear  child  has  gone  home.  It  was  God's  will 
to  take  her,  and  that  is  enough.' ' 

Occasional  references  in  Rufus  Choate's 
journals  show  that  he  was  never  so  busy  or 
so  interested  in  other  matters  as  to  forget  the 
necessity  of  feeding  the  spiritual  life.  During 
a  trip  to  Europe,  in  1850,  he  writes  while  on 


RUFUS  CHOATE.  23 

shipboard,  "I  have  come  away  without  a  book 
but  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  and  Daily 
Food."  Later  he  writes  down  this  resolution, 
"I  will  commit  one  morsel  in  the  'Daily  Food' 
daily,  and  have  to-day,  that  of  the  2Qth  of 
June."  In  a  memorandum  concerning  a  relig- 
ious service  which  he  had  attended  in  London, 
he  writes:  "I  have  attended  service  in  St. 
George's  for  want  of  knowing  where  to  go. 
The  music  was  admirable,  forming  a  larger 
part  than  in  the  American  Episcopal  Service, 
and  performed  divinely.  The  sermon  was  light 
and  delivered  in  a  cold  'sing-song'  on  'The 
Character  of  David.'  " 

In  laying  out  a  plan  for  his  daily  conduct, 
during  a  stay  in  England,  he  wrote  down  this 
resolution,  "And  now  for  some  plan  of  time 
and  movement  for  England.  Before  breakfast 
I  shall  walk  at  least  an  hour  observantly,  and 
on  returning,  jot  down  anything  worth  it. 
This  hour  is  for  exercise,  however.  I  mean 
next  to  read  every  day  a  passage  in  the  Bible, 
a  passage  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New  Testament, 
beginning  each,  and  commit  my  'Daily  Food.'  " 
And  a  month  later,  when  he  had  been  very 
much  taken  up,  so  that  he  had  little  time  to 


3?4  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

write  in  his  journal,  he  jots  down  this,  "I  read 
Bible,  Prayer  Book,  and  a  page  of  Bishop 
Andrews'  Prayers." 

All  the  men  who  have  written  about  Rufus 
Choate  have  agreed  in  this :  that  as  life  matured 
with  him,  the  beautiful  graces  of  the  Christian 
character  became  ever  more  marked  in  all  his 
relations  to  others.  One  says  of  him:  "It 
seemed  as  if  nobody  was  ever  so  gentle,  and 
sweet  hearted,  and  tender  of  others  as  he.  And 
when  we  consider  the  constant  provocation  of 
his  profession,  his  natural  excitability,  the 
ardor  with  which  he  threw  himself  into  a 
case,  the  vigor  and  tenacity  of  purpose 
with  which  he  fought  his  battle,  as  well 
as  his  extreme  sensitiveness  to  sharp  and 
unkind  words,  it  seems  little  less  than  a 
miracle." 

Another  says  of  him  that  he  lavished  his 
good  nature  upon  all  around  him,  in  the  court 
and  in  the  office,  upon  students,  witnesses,  ser- 
vants, and  strangers  as  well.  He  was  so 
reluctant  to  inflict  pain  that  he  would  long  en- 
dure annoyance,  such  as  permitting  himself  to 
be  bored  by  an  undesired  visitor,  or  put  himself 
to  great  inconvenience  in  escaping  from  a  diffi- 


RUFUS  CHOATE.  25 

cult  situation  rather  than  to  wound  the  feelings 
of  another.  We  are  assured  that  he  never 
spoke  ill  of  the  absent,  nor  would  suffer  others 
to  do  so  in  his  presence.  He  was  affectionate, 
obliging,  desirous  to  make  every  one  about  him 
happy,  with  strong  sympathy  for  any  one  in 
trouble. 

Dr.  Adams,  who  was  his  pastor  for  many 
years,  in  his  funeral  address  tells  a  character- 
istic little  anecdote:  "He  had  not  walked  far, 
one  morning,  a  few  years  ago,  he  said,  and 
gave  as  a  reason  that  his  attention  was  taken 
by  a  company  of  those  large,  creeping  things 
which  lie  on  their  backs  in  the  paths  as  soon 
as  the  light  strikes  them.  'But  of  what  use 
was  it,'  he  was  asked,  'for  you  to  help  them 
over  with  your  cane,  knowing  that  they 
would  become  supine  again?'  'I  gave 
them  a  fair  start  in  life,'  he  said,  'and 
my  responsibility  was  at  an  end.'  Rufus 
Choate  was  always  helping  them  on  to  their 
feet." 

The  great  lawyer  was  very  fond  of  music, 
especially  sacred  music.  Every  Sunday  even- 
ing, after  tea,  he  would  gather  his  children 
around  the  piano  and  join  them  in  singing  the 


26  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

old  Psalm  tunes  and  chants.  In  his  last  ill- 
ness his  children  sang  these  old  songs  of  praise 
for  him  every  night.  His  pure  and  happy 
spirit  must  have  rejoiced  on  entering  the 
heavenly  chorus. 


SAMUEL  F.  B.  MORSE 


CHAPTER  III. 

SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE. 

THE  first  message  ever  sent  over  the  tele- 
graphic wire — "What  hath  God  wrought!" — 
taken  from  the  twenty-third  verse  of  the 
twenty-third  chapter  of  the  book  of  Numbers, 
reveals  a  spirit  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
entire  life  and  character  of  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse,  the  famous  inventor  of  our  modern 
telegraph  system.  Professor  Morse  was  not 
only  a  Christian  in  his  creed,  but  a  sincere  and 
genuine  Christian  in  his  practice.  Both  his 
father  and  his  grandfather  were  ministers  of 
the  gospel.  He  gave  himself,  without  reserve, 
to  the  Christian  life  in  his  youth,  and  held  to  it 
with  consecrated  devotion  throughout  his 
career.  It  was  in  his  father's  church  in 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  that  he  first  publicly  pro- 
fessed his  faith  in  Christ.  Later  on,  when  the 
family  removed  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  First  Congregational 


30  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Church  of  that  city,  where  he  remained  in  con- 
nection until  the  year  1847,  when  he  settled  in 
Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  and  united  with  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church.  But  wherever  he  was, 
in  London,  or  Paris,  or  Washington,  on  sea 
or  land,  in  whatever  company  of  people  he  was 
thrown,  he  was  always  known  and  recognized 
as  a  Christian.  Those  who  knew  him  most 
intimately  were  constantly  impressed  with  the 
feeling  that  he  was  guided  in  all  his  actions 
by  reverent  love  toward  God  and  sympathy  and 
kindness  toward  his  fellow-men.  To  him  the 
Scriptures  were  the  guide  and  rule  of  life,  and 
he  held  his  own  life  constantly  to  their  stand- 
ard. He  was  often  unjustly  assailed  by  those 
who  were  envious  or  jealous  of  him  because  of 
his  inventive  genius;  yet  these  things  which 
often  bring  out  the  seamy  side  in  a  man's 
character,  had  no  such  result  with  him. 
Through  the  most  annoying  experiences  he 
maintained  a  composure  and  calmness,  with  a 
forgiving  and  gentle  spirit,  which  caused  those 
who  beheld  him  to  feel  like  saying,  as  was 
said  of  Peter  and  John,  that  he  "had  been  with 
Jesus  and  learned  of  him."  He  greatly 
delighted  in  Christian  conversation,  and  walk- 


SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE.     31 

ing  on  the  street,  or  in  the  midst  of  business, 
when  he  was  seemingly  overwhelmed  with 
business  cares  and  perplexed  with  many  busi- 
ness anxieties,  he  ever  welcomed  a  conversa- 
tion on  the  subject  of  personal  religion  and 
would  talk  with  all  the  simplicity  of  a  child 
with  any  friend  who  was  ready  to  discuss  the 
subject  of  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  God. 

Professor  Morse  was  far  more  than  a  senti- 
mentalist in  the  Christian  life.  The  Christian 
spirit  pervaded  all  his  business.  He  was  active 
and  conscientious  in  the  use  of  his  money  and 
gave  largely  and  cheerfully  as  his  means  in- 
creased to  any  object  of  Christian  benevolence 
which  appealed  to  his  judgment.  Few  men, 
we  are  told,  have  given  more  in  proportion  to 
advance  the  cause  of  Christ.  He  held  all  his 
success  to  be  God-given.  After  the  first  dis- 
patch was  sent  and  received,  Morse  said  of  it, 
"It  baptized  the  American  telegraph  with  the 
name  of  its  Author."  The  Author,  as  he  be- 
lieved, was  God.  So  grateful  was  he  that  he 
gave  the  first  earnings  of  the  telegraph  as  a 
sort  of  first-fruits  to  the  church.  From  this 
beginning,  which  was  only  the  commencement 
of  a  flow  of  wealth  into  his  hands  which  ever 


32  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

afterward  gave  him  abundance,  he  remained 
faithful  to  that  sense  of  stewardship  to  God. 
He  was  liberal  in  his  gifts  to  colleges  and 
theological  seminaries,  as  well  as  to  missionary 
and  other  religious  causes. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life,  when 
Professor  Morse  had  become  one  of  the  famous 
men  in  the  world  and  when  honors  and  riches 
were  heaped  upon  him,  the  marked  character- 
istic of  the  man  was  the  development  of  the 
spiritual  life.  None  of  his  successes  in  any 
degree  spoiled  him.  In  the  midst  of  earthly 
honors  and  riches  his  appreciation  of  spiritual 
riches  increased. 

Dr.  Wheeler,  of  Poughkeepsie,  who  was 
Mr.  Morse's  pastor  during  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  has  given  a  very  charming  picture  of 
Morse's  religious  life  during  the  years  when  he 
knew  him.  He  writes:  "It  was  at  Locust 
Grove  I  knew  him  best  and  most.  Here  among 
the  grand  old  trees,  the  fresh,  green  lawn,  and 
rare  plants  which  adorned  his  grounds,  the 
fashion  and  substance  of  the  man  were  seen. 
This  home  he  greatly  loved.  Writing  from  one 
of  the  capitals  in  Europe  at  one  time  imme- 
diately after  one  of  the  grandest  receptions 


SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE.     33 

that  scholar  or  philosopher  ever  received,  he 
says:  'My  heart  yearns  for  my  dear  old  home 
on  the  Hudson;  its  calm  repose,  its  sweet 
walks,  where  so  often  I  have  been  with  God.' 
I  recall  with  great  satisfaction  the  many  times 
on  his  veranda,  looking  westward  on  flood  and 
hills  beyond,  in  large  discourse  he  would  dwell 
upon  the  'things  unseen'  and  his  utterances 
would  have  such  depth  and  scope  that  I  mar- 
veled at  the  beauty  and  strength  of  that  love 
for  God  and  his  realm  which  rose  and  fell 
like  mighty  tides  in  his  heart." 

On  one  occasion  when  his  pastor  was  with 
him  some  allusion  was  made  to  his  career  and 
the  honors  which  had  thickened  upon  him.  A 
significant  smile  stole  over  the  face  of  the  great 
inventor  as  he  gently  said :  "It  is  all  of  God. 
He  has  used  me  as  his  hand  in  all  this.  I  am 
not  indifferent  to  the  rewards  of  earth  and 
the  praise  of  my  fellow-men,  but  I  am  more 
pleased  with  the  fact  that  my  Father  in  heaven 
has  allowed  me  to  do  something  for  him  and 
his  world."  On  another  occasion  when  Dr. 
Wheeler  called  on  him  Morse  met  him  with 
brimming  eyes,  and,  grasping  him  with  both 
hands,  exclaimed:  "Oh,  you  cannot  tell  how 


34  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

thankful  I  have  been  this  morning,  in  thinking 
this  matter  of  the  telegraph  all  over,  that  God 
has  permitted  me  to  do  something  for  the  health 
and  comfort  of  my  fellows.  I  have  just  heard 
of  a  family  made  happy  by  a  telegraphic  dis- 
patch from  one  of  its  absent  members,  an- 
nouncing his  safety,  when  the  whole  household 
was  in  grief  over  his  supposed  death;  only 
think  of  the  many  homes  that  may  be  thus 
gladdened,  relieved  from  solitude  and  pain!" 
Some  scientific  men  have  seemed  to  take  a 
greater  interest  in  trying  to  exclude  God  from 
his  own  universe  than  in  finding  out  the  truth ; 
but  for  such  men  Morse  had  no  sympathy.  He 
was  a  thoughtful,  well-read,  and  thoroughly 
practical  scientific  seeker  after  truth;  but  he 
found  God  everywhere.  Pointing  one  day  to 
an  insect's  wing,  he  said:  "There,  that  is 
enough  of  itself  to  satisfy  any  reasonable  mind 
of  God's  being,  wisdom  and  power.  It  is  in 
these  things  which  we  call  small  that  I  am  find- 
ing every  day  fresh  proofs  of  God's  direct  and 
positive  agency.  I  see  in  all  these  things  God's 
finger,  and  I  am  so  glad  through  them  to  get 
hold  of  God's  hand ;  and  then,"  he  added,  with 
moistened  eyes,  and  a  voice  husky  with  emo- 


SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE.    35 

tion,  "if  God  makes  all  these  small  things 
around  us  here  so  exquisitely  beautiful,  what 
grandeur  must  attach  to  the  things  beyond, 
unseen  and  eternal!" 

Soon  after  coming  to  Poughkeepsie,  one 
summer,  he  fractured  one  of  his  limbs,  and 
was  confined  for  most  of  that  season  to  his 
room.  Naturally  it  was  a  great  trial  to  him, 
but  he  bore  it  with  such  resignation  and  there 
ripened  upon  him  during  it  all  such  spiritual 
graces  that  his  friends  regarded  it  a  rare  privi- 
lege to  see  him  in  his  sick  chamber.  His  win- 
dow overlooked  the  broad  and  splendid  Hud- 
son River.  As  a  friend  sat  with  him  one 
afternoon,  looking  upon  river  and  hill  and 
forest  as  they  glowed  in  the  changing  light  of 
the  setting  sun,  Morse  said :  "I  have  been  look- 
ing upon  the  river  of  my  life.  I  thank  God 
that  it  had  such  a  beginning,  that  upon  it  has 
fallen  such  a  sunshine;  and  I  know  whom  I 
have  believed  and  rejoice  that  so  soon  this 
river  will  flow  out  into  the  broad  sea  of  an 
everlasting  love." 

One  who  knew  him  well  writes  of  Morse: 
"In  his  whole  character  and  in  all  his  relations 
he  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his 


36  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

age.  He  was  one  who  drew  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him  to  his  heart,  disarming  all 
prejudices,  silencing  all  cavil.  In  his  family 
he  was  light,  life,  and  love;  with  those  in  his 
employ  he  was  ever  considerate  and  kind,  never 
exacting  and  harsh,  but  honorable  and  just, 
seeking  the  good  of  every  dependent;  in  the 
community  he  was  a  pillar  of  strength  and 
duty,  commanding  the  homage  of  universal 
respect ;  in  the  church  he  walked  with  God  and 
men.  He  is  not,  for  God  hath  taken  him. 
Blessed  for  evermore  his  memory,  and  blessed 
those  who  saw  and  knew  him  not  merely  as 
the  man  of  science  and  the  Christian  philoso- 
pher, but  as  the  man  of  God." 

The  spiritual  life  of  Professor  Morse  deep- 
ened and  became  still  more  beautiful  as  the 
time  of  his  departure  from  the  world  drew 
near;  his  faith  strengthened  and  his  hopes 
brightened  with  the  years.  Writing,  in  1868, 
from  Dresden,  to  his  grandson,  he  says :  "The 
nearer  I  approach  to  the  end  of  my  pilgrimage, 
the  clearer  is  the  evidence  of  the  divine  origin 
of  the  Bible;  the  grandeur  and  sublimity  of 
God's  remedy  for  fallen  man  are  more  appre- 
ciated, and  the  future  is  illumined  with  hope 


SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE.     37 

and  joy."  And  in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  dated 
from  Paris,  March  4,  1868,  he  says:  "It  can- 
not be  long  before  all  this  will  be  gone.  I  feel 
daily  the  necessity  of  sitting  looser  to  the  world 
and  taking  stronger  hold  on  heaven.  The 
Saviour  daily  seems  more  precious;  his  love, 
his  atonement,  his  divine  power  are  themes 
which  occupy  my  mind  in  the  wakeful  hours  of 
the  night  and  change  the  time  of  'watching  for 
the  morning'  from  irksomeness  to  joyful  com- 
munion with  him." 

Morse  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  having  num- 
bered his  fourscore  years  before  the  summons 
came.  He  met  the  call  with  unwavering  faith 
and  courage,  and  in  response  to  a  remark  made 
by  one  of  his  tried  friends  concerning  the  good- 
ness of  God  to  him  in  the  past  he  said,  with 
cheerful  and  buoyant  hope,  "The  best  is  yet  to 
come." 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 


CHAPTER  IV. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

AFTER  the  death  of  John  Quincy  Adams  a 
book  was  published,  entitled  "Letters  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  to  His  Son  on  the  Bible  and  its 
Teachings."  These  letters  were  written  dur- 
ing the  younger  life  of  Mr.  Adams,  while  he 
was  minister  for  the  United  States  at  St. 
Petersburg,  Russia.  His  young  son  was  in 
school  in  Massachusetts,  and  this  brillant  law- 
yer and  diplomatist  thought  there  was  no  way 
in  which  he  could  help  his  boy  so  much  as  to 
rivet  his  mind  on  the  importance  of  the  Bible 
as  the  Word  of  God.  He  sought  in  these  let- 
ters to  inculcate  a  love  and  reverence  for  the 
Bible  and  a  delight  in  its  perusal  and  study. 
Throughout  his  long  life  Mr.  Adams  was  him- 
self a  daily  and  devout  reader  of  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testaments,  and  delighted  in 
comparing  and  considering  them  in  the  various 
languages  with  which  he  was  familiar,  hoping 


42  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

thereby  to  acquire  a  nicer  and  clearer  appre- 
ciation of  their  meaning.  The  Bible  was  em- 
phatically his  counsel  and  monitor  through  life, 
and  the  fruits  of  its  guidance  are  seen  in  the 
unsullied  character  which  he  bore  through  the 
turbid  waters  of  political  contention  to  his  final 
earthly  rest.  His  political  life  was  lived  at  a 
time  when  factional  and  party  feeling  ran  high 
and  when  political  abuse  abounded;  but  the 
historian  has  said  of  him  that  he  left  no  man 
behind  him  who  would  wish  to  fix  a  stain  on  the 
name  he  inscribed  so  high  on  the  roll  of 
his  country's  most  gifted  and  illustrious 
sons. 

These  letters  to  his  son  are  not  only  of  great 
value  because  of  their  candid  and  reverent 
spirit,  but  especially  because  of  the  testimony 
so  unconsciously  borne  by  this  statesman  and 
scholar  to  the  truth  and  excellency  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  Scriptures. 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  a  practical  Chris- 
tian. This  was  proved  by  his  spotless  life, 
his  strict  honesty  and  integrity,  his  devotion 
to  duty,  his  faithful  obedience  to  the  dictates 
of  conscience  at  whatever  sacrifice,  his  rever- 
ence of  God  and  of  Christ,  his  respect  for 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          43 

religion  and  its  institutions,  and  his  recognition 
of  its  claims  and  responsibilities. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Adams  was  a  member 
and  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society.  In  reply  to  an  invitation 
to  attend  its  anniversary  in  1830,  he  wrote  the 
following  letter: 

"SiR:  Your  letter  of  the  twenty-second  of 
March  was  duly  received;  and  while  regret- 
ting my  inability  to  attend  personally  at  the 
celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  the  institu- 
tion on  the  thirteenth  of  next  month,  I  pray 
you,  sir,  to  be  assured  of  the  gratification 
which  I  have  experienced  in  learning  of 
the  success  which  has  attended  the  benevo- 
lent exertions  of  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety. 

"In  the  decease  of  Judge  Washington  they 
have  lost  an  able  and  valuable  associate,  whose 
direct  co-operation,  not  less  than  his  laborious 
and  exemplary  life,  contributed  to  promote  the 
cause  of  the  Redeemer.  Yet  not  for  him,  nor 
for  themselves  by  the  loss  of  him,  are  they 
called  to  sorrow  as  without  hope ;  for  lives  like 
his  shine  but  as  purer  and  brighter  lights  in  the 


44  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

world  after  the  lamp  which  fed  them  is 
extinct. 

"The  distribution  of  Bibles,  if  the  simplest, 
is  not  the  least  efficacious  of  the  means  of  ex- 
tending the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
remotest  corners  of  the  earth;  for  the  Com- 
forter is  in  the  sacred  volume;  and  among  the 
receivers  of  that  million  of  copies  distributed 
by  the  Society  who  shall  number  the  multi- 
tudes awakened  thereby,  with  good  will  to  man 
in  their  hearts  and  with  the  song  of  the  Lamb 
upon  their  lips? 

"The  hope  of  the  Christian  is  inseparable 
from  his  faith.  Whoever  believes  in  the  di- 
vine inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  must 
hope  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  shall  prevail 
throughout  the  earth.  Never  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  have  the  prospects  of  man- 
kind been  more  encouraging  to  that  hope  than 
they  appear  to  be  at  the  present  time.  And 
may  the  associated  distribution  of  the  Bible 
proceed  and  prosper,  till  the  Lord  shall  have 
made  'bare  his  holy  arm  in  the  eyes  of  all 
nations;  and  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall 
see  the  salvation  of  our  God.' 

"With  many  respects  to  the  Board  of  Mana- 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          45 

gers,  please  to  accept  the  good  wishes  of  your 
friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS." 

Throughout  the  life  of  Mr.  Adams  he  lived 
in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  this  letter.  In 
his  old  age,  during  a  visit  to  Niagara  Falls, 
he  went  one  Sabbath  morning  to  visit  a  rem- 
nant of  the  Tuscarora  Indians  and  to  attend 
divine  worship  with  them.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  sermon  the  ex-President  of  the  United 
States  was  invited  to  make  an  address  to  the 
Indians.  A  report  made  at  the  time  has  this 
paragraph : 

"Mr.  Adams  alluded  to  his  advanced  age 
and  said  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever 
looked  upon  their  beautiful  fields  and  forests; 
that  he  was  truly  happy  to  meet  them  there  and 
join  with  them  in  the  worship  of  our  common 
Parent;  reminded  them  that  in  years  past  he 
had  addressed  them  from  the  position  which 
he  then  occupied,  in  language  at  once  that  of 
his  station  and  his  heart,  as  'his  children;'  and 
that  now,  as  a  private  citizen,  he  hailed  them, 
in  terms  of  equal  warmth  and  endearment,  as 
his  'brethren  and  sisters.'  He  alluded,  with 


46  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

a  simple  eloquence  which  seemed  to  move  the 
Indians  much,  to  the  equal  care  and  love  with 
which  God  regards  all  his  children,  whether 
savage  or  civilized.  He  touched  briefly  and 
forcibly  on  the  topics  of  the  sermon  which 
they  had  heard  and  concluded  with  a  beautiful 
and  touching  benediction  upon  them." 

In  1831  John  Quincy  Adams  wrote  the  hymn 
which  was  sung  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth 
of  July  at  his  home  in  Quincy,  Mass.  I  quote 
these  verses  as  peculiarly  suggestive  of  his 
Christian  faith,  though  the  entire  hymn 
breathes  the  same  spirit: 

Sing  to  the  Lord  a  song  of  praise; 

Assemble,  ye  who  love  his  name; 
Let  congregated  millions  raise 

Triumphant  glory's  loud  acclaim. 
From  earth's  remotest  region  come ; 

Come,  greet  your  Maker  and  your  King; 
With  harp,  with  timbrel,  and  with  drum, 

His  praise  let  hill  and  valley  sing. 

Go  forth  in  arms ;  Jehovah  reigns ; 

Their  graves  let  foul  oppressors  find ; 
Bind  all  their  sceptered  kings  in  chains; 

Their  peers  with  iron  fetters  bind. 
Then  to  the  Lord  shall  praise  ascend ; 

Then  all  mankind,  with  one  accord, 
And  freedom's  voice,  till  time  shall  end, 

In  pealing  anthems,  praise  the  Lord. 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.          4? 

I  turn  from  this  patriotic  but  intensely  re- 
ligious composition  to  one  of  the  tenderest 
and  sweetest  little  poems  in  all  our  American 
literature,  which  shows  with  what  simplicity 
of  faith  and  love  the  scholar  and  the  poli- 
tician had  been  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
as  he  listened  to  his  teaching  concerning  the 
immortality  of  little  children.  The  following 
is  a  quotation  from  his  poem  on  "The  Death 
of  Children :" 

Sure,  to  the  mansions  of  the  blest 

When  infant  innocence  ascends, 
Some  angel  brighter  than  the  rest 

The  spotless  spirit's  flight  attends. 

On  wings  of  ecstasy  they  rise, 
Beyond  where  worlds  material  roll, 

Till  some  fair  sister  of  the  skies 
Receives  the  unpolluted  soul. 

There  at  the  Almighty  Father's  hand, 
Nearest  the  throne  of  living  light, 

The  choirs  of  infant  seraphs  stand. 
And  dazzling  shine  where  all  are  bright. 

The  inextinguishable  beam, 

With  dust  united  at  our  birth, 
Sheds  a  more  dim,  discolored  gleam, 

The  more  it  lingers  upon  earth: 


48  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Qosed  is  the  dark  abode  of  clay, 
The  stream  of  glory  faintly  burns, 

Nor  unobscured  the  lucid  ray 
To  its  own  native  fount  returns. 

But  when  the  Lord  of  mortal  breath 

Decrees  his  bounty  to  resume, 
And  points  the  silent  shaft  of  death, 

Which  speeds  an  infant  to  the  tomb, 

No  passion  fierce,  no  low  desire, 
Has  quenched  the  radiance  of  the  flame; 

Back  to  its  God  the  living  fire 
Returns,  unsullied,  as  it  came. 

I  am  sure  we  will  all  agree  with  his  biogra- 
pher, William  H.  Seward,  that  the  heart  which 
could  turn  aside  from  the  conflicts  of  the  politi- 
cal world,  and  utter  sentiments  so  chaste  and 
tender,  revealing  a  spiritual  mindedness  rarely 
beautiful,  must  have  been  the  residence  of  the 
sweetest  and  noblest  emotions  of  man. 

The  end  of  life  came  to  John  Quincy  Adams, 
as  he  desired,  in  the  midst  of  his  work.  Rising 
as  if  to  address  the  Speaker  from  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  Washing- 
ton, he  was  suddenly  stricken  with  paralysis, 
and  two  days  later  he  bade  farewell  to  earth. 
His  last  words  were,  "This  is  the  last  of  earth ! 
I  am  content!" 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  49 

Among  the  many  tributes  paid  to  John 
Quincy  Adams  none  were  more  tender  and 
appreciative  than  those  that  were  offered  by  his 
political  foes.  Mr.  Holmes,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, closed  his  eloquent  eulogy  with  these 
words :  "But  the  last  Sabbath,  and  in  this  hall 
he  worshiped  with  others.  Now  his  spirit 
mingles  with  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  and 
the  just  made  perfect,  in  the  eternal  adora- 
tion of  the  living  God." 

His  colleague  from  Massachusetts,  Mr. 
Davis,  said  in  his  address  in  the  House  of 
Representatives :  "It  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  earnest  wish  of  his  heart  to  die  like  Chat- 
ham, in  the  midst  of  his  labors.  It  was  a  sub- 
lime thought  that  where  he  had  toiled  in  the 
House  of  the  Nation,  in  hours  of  the  day 
devoted  to  its  service,  the  stroke  of  death 
should  reach  him  and  there  sever  the  ties  of 
love  and  patriotism  which  bound  him  to  earth. 
He  fell  in  his  seat,  attacked  by  paralysis,  of 
which  he  had  before  been  a  subject.  To  de- 
scribe the  scene  which  ensued  would  be  im- 
possible. It  was  more  than  a  spontaneous  gush 
of  feeling  which  all  such  events  call  forth,  so 
much  to  the  honor  of  our  nature.  It  was 


50  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

the  expression  of  reverence  for  his  moral 
worth,  of  admiration  for  his  great  intellectual 
endowments,  and  veneration  for  his  age  and 
public  services.  All  gathered  around  the  suf- 
ferer, and  the  strong  sympathy  and  deep  feel- 
ing which  were  manifested  showed  that  the 
business  of  the  House  (which  instantly  ad- 
journed) was  forgotten  amid  the  distressing 
anxieties  of  the  moment.  He  was  soon  re- 
moved to  the  apartment  of  the  Speaker,  where 
he  remained  surrounded  by  afflicted  friends 
till  the  weary  clay  resigned  its  immortal  spirit. 
'This  is  the  end  of  earth !'  Brief  but  emphatic 
words.  They  were  the  last  uttered  by  the 
dying  Christian." 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD 


CHAPTER   V. 

JAMES    A.     GARFIELD. 

ON  a  dark,  rainy  night  in  1847,  as  the  Even- 
ing Star  was  leaving  a  long  reach  of  black 
water  in  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  Canal, 
a  boy  was  called  out  of  his  berth  to  take  his 
turn  in  tending  the  bowline.  Bundling  him- 
self out  of  bed,  his  eyes  only  half  opened,  he 
took  his  place  on  the  narrow  platform,  below 
the  bow  deck,  and  began  uncoiling  a  rope  to 
steady  the  boat  so  that  it  might  pass  through 
a  lock  it  was  approaching.  Sleepily  and 
slowly  he  unwound  the  coil  till  it  knotted  and 
caught  in  a  narrow  cleft  in  the  edge  of  the 
deck.  He  gave  it  a  sudden  pull,  but  it  held 
fast,  then  another  and  a  stronger  pull,  and 
it  gave  way,  but  sent  him  over  the  bow  of 
the  boat  into  the  water.  Down  he  went  into 
the  dark  night  and  still  darker  water,  and  the 
Evening  Star  glided  on  to  bury  him  in  a  watery 
grave.  No  human  help  was  near.  God  only 


54  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

could  save  him  and  he  only  by  a  miracle.  So 
the  boy  thought  as  he  went  down,  saying  the 
prayer  his  mother  had  taught  him.  In- 
stinctively clutching  the  rope  he  sank  below 
the  surface;  but  then  it  tightened  in  his  grasp 
and  held  firmly.  Seizing  it,  hand  over  hand  he 
drew  himself  up  on  deck,  a  live  boy  among 
the  living.  Another  kink  had  caught  in 
another  crevice  and  proved  his  salvation.  Was 
it  the  rope  or  the  prayer  of  his  loving  mother 
that  saved  him?  The  boy  did  not  know;  but 
long  after  the  boat  had  passed  the  lock  he 
stood  there  in  his  dripping  clothes  pondering 
the  question. 

Coiling  the  rope,  he  tried  to  throw  it  again 
into  the  crevice,  but  it  had  lost  the  knack  of 
kinking.  Many  times  he  tried — six  hundred 
it  is  said — and  then  sat  down  and  reflected: 
"I  have  thrown  this  rope  six  hundred  times; 
I  might  throw  it  ten  times  as  many  without 
its  catching.  Ten  times  six  hundred  are  six 
thousand,  so  there  were  six  thousand  chances 
against  my  life.  Against  such  odds  Provi- 
dence alone  could  have  saved  it.  Providence, 
therefore,  thinks  it  worth  saving,  and  if  that 
is  so,  I  won't  throw  it  away  on  a  canal  boat. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  55 

I'll  go  home,  get  an  education,  and  become  a 
man." 

Straightway  he  acted  on  the  resolution,  and 
not  long  after  stood  before  his  mother's  log 
cottage  in  what  was  then  the  Cuyahoga  wilder- 
ness. It  was  late  at  night,  but  by  the  fire- 
light that  came  through  the  window  he  saw 
his  mother  kneeling  before  an  open  Bible  which 
lay  on  a  chair  in  the  corner.  She  was  read- 
ing, but  her  eyes  were  off  the  page,  and  she 
was  looking  up  as  if  quoting  the  Scripture 
back  again  to  God,  and  these  were  the  words 
he  heard :  "O  turn  unto  me,  and  have  mercy 
upon  me;  give  thy  strength  unto  thy  ser- 
vant, and  save  the  son  of  thine  handmaid!" 

He  opened  the  door,  put  his  arm  about  her 
neck,  and  his  head  upon  her  bosom.  What 
words  he  said  we  do  not  know;  but  there  by 
her  side  he  gave  back  to  God  the  life  which 
he  had  given.  So  the  mother's  prayer  was 
answered.  So  sprang  up  the  seed  which  in 
toil  and  tears  she  had  planted. 

That  boy  was  James  A.  Garfield,  later  the 
distinguished  soldier,  congressman,  senator, 
and  President  of  the  United  States. 

Soon  after  the  experience  we  have  related 


56  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

young  Garfield  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  reso- 
lution to  get  an  education.  And  in  March, 
1850,  during  a  series  of  evangelistic  meetings, 
he  united  with  the  Church  of  the  Disciples 
and  was  baptized  in  a  little  stream  that  flows 
into  the  Chagrin  River.  This  final  decision 
and  public  confession  of  his  faith  in  Christ  was 
brought  about  by  a  quiet,  sweet-tempered  man 
who  held  a  series  of  meetings  in  the  school- 
house  near  the  Garfield  homestead  and  told  in 
the  plainest  manner  and  with  the  most  straight- 
forward earnestness  the  story  of  the  Gospel. 
The  openness  of  young  Garfield' s  mind,  very 
remarkable  for  a  young  man  yet  under  twenty, 
may  be  seen  in  the  reasons  which  he  gave  for 
choosing  to  go  to  Williams  College  instead  of 
Bethany  College,  an  institution  sustained  by 
the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member  and  pre- 
sided over  by  Alexander  Campbell,  the  man 
above  all  others  he  had  been  taught  to  admire 
and  revere.  These  are  the  reasons,  as  he  gave 
them  in  a  letter  to  a  friend :  "There  are  three 
reasons  why  I  have  decided  not  to  go  to 
Bethany:  First,  the  course  of  study  is  not  so 
extensive  or  thorough  as  in  Eastern  colleges. 
Second,  Bethany  leans  too  heavily  toward 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  57 

slavery.  Third,  I  am  the  son  of  Disciple  par- 
ents, am  one  myself,  and  have  had  but  little  ac- 
quaintance with  people  of  other  views,  and, 
having  always  lived  in  the  West,  I  think  it  will 
make  me  more  liberal,  both  in  my  religious  and 
general  views  and  sentiments,  to  go  into  a 
new  circle,  where  I  shall  be  under  new 
influences.  These  considerations  led  me  to 
conclude  to  go  to  some  New  England 
college." 

Garfield  took  a  fine  standing  in  Williams 
College,  and  his  religious  character  was  as 
well  understood  as  his  intellectual  power  and 
ability.  He  became  a  contributor  to  and  after- 
wards editor  of  the  Williams  Quarterly,  the 
college  magazine.  A  quotation  from  one  of 
these  articles,  entitled,  "The  Province  of  His- 
tory," reveals  his  strong  and  intelligent  Chris- 
tian faith  at  this  time:  "For  every  village, 
state,  and  nation  there  is  an  aggregate  of 
native  talent  which  God  has  given  and  by 
which,  together  with  his  Providence,  he  leads 
that  nation  on,  and  thus  leads  the  world.  In 
the  light  of  these  truths  we  affirm  that  no  man 
can  understand  the  history  of  any  nation  or 
of  the  world  who  does  not  recognize  in  it  the 


58  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

power  of  God  and  behold  his  stately  goings 
forth  as  he  walks  among  the  nations.  It  is 
his  hand  that  is  moving  the  vast  superstructure 
of  human  history,  and  though  but  one  of  the 
windows  were  unfurnished,  like  that  of  the 
Arabian  palace,  yet  all  the  powers  of  earth 
could  never  complete  it  without  the  aid  of  the 
Divine  Architect. 

"To  employ  another  figure — the  world's  his- 
tory is  a  divine  poem  of  which  the  history  of 
every  nation  is  a  canto  and  of  every  man  a 
word.  Its  strains  have  been  pealing  along 
down  the  centuries,  and  though  there  have 
been  mingled  the  discord  of  roaring  cannon 
and  dying  men,  yet  to  the  Christian,  philos- 
opher, and  historian — the  humbler  listener — 
there  has  been  a  divine  melody  running  through 
the  song,  which  speaks  of  hope  and  halcyon 
days  to  come.  The  record  of  every  orphan's 
sigh,  of  every  widow's  prayer,  of  every  noble 
deed,  of  every  honest  heart-throb  for  the  right 
is  swelling  that  gentle  strain;  and  when  at 
last  the  great  end  is  attained — when  the  lost 
image  of  God  is  restored  to  the  human  soul, 
when  the  church  anthems  can  be  pealed  forth 
without  a  discordant  note — then  will  angels 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  59 

join  in  the  chorus  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
again  'Shout  for  joy.' ' 

On  leaving  college  Garfield  was  at  first  a 
professor  in  and  a  little  later  president  of  the 
college  at  Hiram,  Ohio.  The  Church  of  the 
Disciples  is  accustomed  to  accord  large  liberty 
of  speaking  to  its  laymen,  and  so  it  came  to 
be  a  recognized  part  of  the  young  college  pres- 
ident's life  to  preach  a  brief  sermon  to  his 
pupils  every  Sunday.  In  later  days  many  of 
the  students  of  that  time  looked  back  to  those 
Sunday  morning  talks  as  the  vital  religious 
influence  which  molded  their  young  lives  and 
established  them  in  the  Christian  faith. 

It  is  not  the  object  of  this  article  in  any 
way  to  follow  the  life  of  Garfield  as  a  biogra- 
pher would  do.  But  into  the  legislature,  and 
on  into  the  civil  war,  where  he  was  swept 
soon  after,  through  his  growing  career  as  a 
soldier,  Garfield  never  forgot  his  religion.  His 
first  recourse  in  every  emergency  of  life  was 
to  the  Bible  and  to  God.  One  of  his  biogra- 
phers says  of  him  that  when  Governor  Denni- 
son  of  Ohio  offered  Garfield  the  lieutenant- 
colonelcy  of  the  Forty-second  Ohio  Regiment, 
he  did  not  accept  the  tendered  command 


60  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

hastily.  He  by  no  means  grasped  the  glitter  of 
command  with  the  avidity  of  an  aspirant  for 
honors.  He  went  home,  opened  his  mother's 
Bible,  and  pondered  upon  the  subject.  He 
had  a  wife,  a  child,  and  a  few  thousand  dol- 
lars. If  he  gave  his  life  to  the  country,  would 
God  and  the  few  thousand  dollars  provide  for 
his  wife  and  child?  He  consulted  the  Bible 
about  it.  It  seemed  to  answer  in  the  affirma- 
tive, and  toward  the  next  morning  he  wrote  to 
a  friend:  "I  regard  my  life  as  given  to  the 
country.  I  am  only  anxious  to  make  as  much 
of  it  as  possible  before  the  mortgage  on  it  is 
foreclosed." 

Many  stories  are  told  of  the  way  Garfield 
carried  his  Christian  faith  into  the  army  camp, 
in  association  with  his  fellow  officers  and  in 
the  command  of  his  troops.  Again  and  again, 
after  a  battle,  it  was  his  custom  to  go  among 
the  dying  and  the  wounded  and  talk  with  men 
in  sore  trouble  about  the  Christ  who  was  able 
to  comfort  and  save  them. 

One  of  the  notable  occasions  on  which  Gar- 
field's  Christian  faith  shone  forth  with  extra- 
ordinary sublimity  was  in  New  York  City  the 
morning  after  Lincoln's  assassination.  There 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  61 

was  a  great  mass-meeting  gathered  in  the 
street  in  front  of  the  Exchange  Building. 
Nearly  a  hundred  generals,  judges,  statesmen, 
lawyers,  editors,  clergymen,  and  others  were 
gathered  in  a  reception  room  looking  out  on  a 
massive  balcony,  where  the  speakers  were  to 
stand.  The  meeting  took  a  bad  turn.  The 
mob  was  stirred  to  riot;  there  was  a  spirit  of 
vengeance  in  the  air.  One  man  lay  dead, 
another  was  dying,  and  the  mob  began  to  cry 
for  the  destruction  of  the  World  office.  If 
it  had  once  got  started,  murder  and  ruin  would 
have  spread  everywhere.  Then  it  was  that  a 
man  went  to  the  front.  He  held  a  telegram  in 
his  hand,  and  waved  it  above  the  heads  of 
the  excited  throng.  He  caught  their  eyes  and 
ears  by  shouting,  "Another  telegram  from 
Washington."  And  then,  in  the  awful  still- 
ness of  the  crisis,  taking  advantage  of  the 
hesitation  of  the  crowd,  whose  steps  had  been 
arrested  a  moment,  a  right  arm  was  lifted  sky- 
ward, and  a  voice,  clear  and  steady,  loud  and 
distinct,  spoke  out:  "Fellow  citizens!  Clouds 
and  darkness  are  round  about  him.  His  pa- 
vilion is  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the 
skies.  Justice  and  judgment  are  the  establish- 


62  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

ment  of  his  throne !  Mercy  and  truth  shall  go 
before  his  face !  Fellow  citizens !  God  reigns, 
and  the  Government  at  Washington  still 
lives!" 

The  effect  was  tremendous.  The  crowd 
stood  riveted  to  the  ground  with  awe,  gazing 
at  the  motionless  orator,  and  thinking  of  God 
and  the  security  of  the  Government  in  that 
hour.  As  the  boiling  wave  subsides  and  set- 
tles to  the  sea  when  some  strong  wind  beats 
it  down,  so  the  tumult  of  the  people  sank  and 
became  still.  All  took  it  as  a  divine  omen. 
As  their  passions  cooled  men  turned  to  one 
another  inquiring  the  name  of  the  man  who 
had  wrought  such  wonders  by  his  sublime 
words  quoted  from  God's  truth,  and  those  who 
knew  answered,  "It  is  General  James  A.  Gar- 
field,  of  Ohio." 


WILLIAM    McKINLEY 


WILLIAM  M'KINLEY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WILLIAM  MCKINLEY. 

THE  mother  of  William  McKinley  was  a 
woman  of  rarely  beautiful  character.  It  was 
her  prayer  and  her  desire  that  her  son  William 
should  be  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel ;  and  though 
the  great  weight  of  his  life  was  to  be  given  in 
other  directions,  he  was  for  many  years  a  local 
preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  throughout  his  entire  life  he  gave  con- 
tinuous and  powerful  testimony  to  the  fact  of 
his  personal  faith  in  God,  in  the  divine  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  as  his 
personal  Saviour. 

When  young  McKinley  was  fifteen  years  of 
age  he  moved  with  his  parents  to  Poland, 
Ohio.  There  was  a  little  academy  at  this  town, 
and  here  the  future  statesman  and  President 
received  such  academic  instruction  as  was  to 
serve  for  his  life  work.  It  was  here  that  he 
made  his  first  public  profession  of  faith  in 
Christ. 


66  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

In  1856  Rev.  A.  D.  Morton,  a  Methodist 
itinerant  preacher,  was  appointed  to  the  church 
in  Poland,  Ohio.  It  was  a  lovely  little  country 
town.  It  had  that  pleasant,  intelligent,  thor- 
oughly moral  and  religious  atmosphere  which 
often  pervades  the  country  college  town.  Small 
as  the  town  was,  there  were  three  churches,  a 
college,  and  a  law-school.  The  pastor  in  such 
a  town  finds  not  only  his  most  delightful  but 
his  most  important  work  in  seeking  to  know 
and  help  the  students  of  the  college.  Among 
the  first  young  men  Pastor  Morton  became 
acquainted  with  was  William  McKinley.  He 
was  a  genial,  kind-spirited  young  man  and 
showed  that  quality  of  unselfish  gentleness  in 
dealing  with  every  one  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  which  was  as  fascinating  in  his  boy- 
hood as  it  was  in  later  days  at  the  White 
House. 

During  the  winter  Mr.  Morton  decided  on 
holding  a  series  of  revival  meetings  and  ear- 
nestly prosecuted  the  work,  preaching  night 
after  night,  and  especially  interesting  himself 
in  winning  the  young  students  who  were  at 
such  a  critical  period  of  their  lives  to  make 
a  definite  decision  for  Christ.  William  Me- 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY.  67 

Kinley  attended  the  meetings,  but  had  made 
no  move  whatever  toward  personal  acceptance 
of  the  invitations  offered  until,  one  evening, 
without  any  excitement  or  previous  intima- 
tion, he  quietly  arose  and  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  beginning  then  and  there  a  Christian 
life. 

Mr.  Morton,  who  still  lives,  remembers  very 
distinctly  some  of  the  sentences  he  uttered. 
Among  them  were  these:  "God  is  the  being 
above  all  to  be  loved  and  served;"  "Religion 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  best  thing  in  all  the 
world ;"  "Here  I  take  my  stand  for  life."  What 
splendid  sentences  they  are !  Many  young  men 
who  are  "almost  persuaded,"  but  have  not 
yet  made  the  great  decision,  might  well  ponder 
these  words  of  this  man,  the  merit  of  whose 
manhood  came  in  later  years  to  be  recognized 
by  a  world-wide  appreciation. 

Throughout  his  entire  public  life  William 
McKinley  remained  faithful  to  that  confes- 
sion and  vow  which  he  registered  among  his 
classmates  in  the  little  academy  church.  There 
was  never  any  question  concerning  his  relig- 
ious principles,  for  he  gave  the  most  devout 
heed  to  the  Word  of  God,  attending  the  ser- 


68  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

vices  of  the  church  with  the  greatest  regu- 
larity, entering  into  the  singing  of  the  hymns 
and  the  other  services  of  divine  worship  with 
manifest  earnestness  and  sincerity. 

During  the  time  President  McKinley  was 
in  the  White  House  I  was  making  a  long  trip 
by  train  when  I  fell  into  conversation  with  a 
fellow  passenger,  himself  a  man  widely  known 
throughout  the  country  and  who  was  of  a  dif- 
erent  political  faith  from  that  of  the  then  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.  He  related  to  me 
a  conversation  which  he  in  turn  had  had  with 
another  man  who  had  been  very  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  President  in  politics  and  had 
entertained  for  him,  politically,  very  harsh 
feelings  because  of  differences  with  him  in 
matters  of  public  importance.  But  this  man 
had  never  seen  the  President  until,  shortly 
before  going  to  the  East  on  business,  he  had 
stopped  over  for  a  first  visit  to  the  city  of 
Washington. 

On  Sunday  morning,  drawn  by  curiosity, 
and  retaining  his  severely  critical  feeling  con- 
cerning the  President,  he  visited  the  church 
where  Mr.  McKinley  was  accustomed  to  wor- 
ship. It  was  Communion  Sunday  morning, 


WILLIAM   McKINLEY.  69 

and,  said  this  man  to  his  friend,  "I  watched 
the  President.  I  watched  his  face  while  he 
sang ;  I  gave  close  attention  to  his  countenance 
and  attitude  during  all  the  opening  service, 
and  his  interest  in  the  earnest  words  which 
were  spoken  before  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered.  And  after  a  while, 
when  I  saw  William  McKinley  get  up  from 
his  place  and  go  and  kneel  down  at  the  altar, 
humbly,  with  the  rest,  and  reverently  take  the 
Communion,  and  then,  when  he  arose,  quietly 
wipe  away  the  traces  of  emotion  from  his 
eyes,  his  whole  countenance  and  attitude  show- 
ing the  deepest  religious  emotion,  I  confess 
to  you  that  I  felt  a  great  change  coming  over 
myself,  and  I  said  to  myself,  'A  country  which 
has  a  man  like  that  at  the  head  of  its  affairs 
is  not  so  badly  off,  after  all.' ' 

McKinley 's  pastor  in  his  home  town  of  Can- 
ton, Ohio,  where  he  attended  church  whenever 
at  home,  and  where  his  membership  remained 
until  his  death,  had  this  to  say  of  his  Christian 
character:  "Another  beauty  in  the  character 
of  our  President,  which  was  a  chaplet  of  grace 
about  his  neck,  was  that  he  was  a  Christian. 
In  the  broadest,  noblest  sense  of  the  word 


70  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

that  was  true.  His  confidence  in  God  was 
strong  and  unwavering;  it  held  him  steady  in 
many  a  storm,  where  others  were  driven  before 
the  wind  and  tossed.  He  believed  in  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  in  his  sovereignty. 
His  faith  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ  was  deep 
and  abiding.  It  is  well  known  that  his  godly 
mother  had  hoped  for  him  that  he  would 
become  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  that  she 
believed  it  to  be  the  highest  vocation  in  life. 
It  was  not,  however,  his  mother's  faith  that 
made  him  a  Christian.  He  had  gained  in  early 
life  a  personal  knowledge  of  Jesus  which 
guided  him  in  the  performance  of  greater 
duties  and  vaster  responsibilities  than  have  been 
the  lot  of  any  other  American  President.  He 
said  at  one  time,  while  bearing  heavy  burdens, 
that  he  could  not  discharge  the  daily  duties  of 
his  life  but  for  the  fact  that  he  had  faith  in 
God." 

The  death  of  William  McKinley,  after  being 
struck  down  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin,  will 
ever  remain  as  a  sublime  testimony  to  the  divin- 
ity of  Christianity.  Mr.  James  Creelman,  in 
his  book,  "On  the  Great  Highway,"  gives  an 
authorized  version  of  the  stricken  President's 


WILLIAM   McKINLEY.  71 

last  words.  It  is  one  of  the  most  marvelous 
illustrations  in  history  of  the  power  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  give  perfect  rest  to  the  soul  in  its 
greatest  emergency.  In  the  afternoon  of  his 
last  day  on  earth,  McKinley  began  to  realize 
that  his  life  was  slipping  away,  and  that  the 
efforts  of  science  could  not  save  him.  He  asked 
the  family  physician  to  bring  the  surgeons. 
One  by  one  they  entered,  and  approached  the 
bedside.  When  they  were  gathered  about  him, 
the  President  opened  his  eyes  and  said:  "It  is 
useless,  gentlemen ;  I  think  we  ought  to  have 
prayer."  Then  the  dying  man  crossed  his 
hands  on  his  breast,  and  half-closed  his  eyes. 
There  was  a  beautiful  smile  on  his  countenance. 
The  surgeons  bowed  their  heads.  Tears 
streamed  from  the  eyes  of  the  white-clad  nurses 
on  either  side  of  the  bed.  "Our  Father,  which 
art  in  heaven,"  said  the  President,  in  a  clear, 
steady  voice.  The  lips  of  the  surgeons  moved, 
"Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done — "  the  sobbing  of  a  nurse  dis- 
turbed the  still  air.  The  President  opened  his 
eyes  and  closed  them  again.  "Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven."  A  long  sigh. 
The  sands  of  life  were  running  swiftly.  He 


72  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

began  again:  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread;  and  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive 
our  debtors;  and  lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
but  deliver  us  from  evil."  Another  silence. 
The  surgeons  looked  at  the  dying  face  and  the 
trembling  lips.  "For  thine  is  the  kingdom, 
and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  forever.  Amen." 
"Amen,"  whispered  the  surgeons. 

A  little  later  the  President  was  conscious 
again.  He  asked  for  his  wife.  Presently  she 
came  to  him,  leaning  feebly  on  the  arm  of  his 
secretary.  As  she  reached  the  side  of  her  hus- 
band and  lover — who  had  read  to  her  every  day 
at  twilight  for  years  from  the  Bible — she  sank 
into  a  chair,  and,  leaning  her  frail  form  over 
the  white  counterpane,  took  his  hands  in  hers 
and  kissed  them. 

The  President's  eyes  were  closed.  His 
breath  came  slowly.  As  he  felt  the  touch  of  his 
wife's  lips,  he  smiled.  It  was  to  be  their  last 
meeting  on  earth.  "Good-by!  Good-by,  all." 
The  wife  gazed  into  the  white  face  and  strug- 
gled for  the  strength  to  bear  it.  "It  is  God's 
way.  His  will,  not  ours,  be  done."  The 
President  turned  his  face  slightly  toward  his 
wife.  A  look  of  ineffable  love  shone  in  the 


WILLIAM   McKINLEY.  73 

haggard  features.  Once  more  he  spoke: 
"Nearer,  my  God  to  thee" —  his  soul  was  on 
his  lips.  His  face  was  radiant.  "E'en  though 
it  be  a  cross" —  There  was  a  moment  of  utter 
silence.  "That  has  been  my  inextinguishable 
prayer."  His  voice  was  almost  inaudible.  "It 
is  God's  way."  It  was  the  last  thought  and 
the  last  word  of  the  gentle  and  noble  McKinley 
on  earth.  He  awoke  in  heaven.  He  had  rest. 


EMMA    WILLARD 


EMMA    WILLARD. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EMMA  WILLARD. 

EMMA  WILLARD  was  one  of  the  few  women 
whose  names  received  votes  for  a  place  in  the 
Hall  of  Fame.  Her  biographer,  Dr.  John 
Lord,  in  summarizing  her  claims  to  immortal- 
ity in  the  hearts  of  her  fellow  citizens,  declares 
that  her  peculiar  glory  is  in  giving  impulse  to 
the  cause  of  female  education.  In  this  cause 
she  rendered  priceless  services.  When  we 
remember  the  institutions  she  founded  and  con- 
ducted, the  six  thousand  young  ladies  whom 
she  educated,  and  many  of  them  gratuitously; 
when  we  bear  in  mind  the  numerous  books  she 
wrote  to  be  used  in  schools,  and  the  great  favor 
with  which  these  books  have  generally  been 
received;  when  we  think  of  the  ceaseless  en- 
ergy, in  various  ways,  which  she  put  forth, 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  to  elevate  her  sex, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  woman  who  in  her 
age  or  country  was  more  useful  or  who  will 


78  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

be  longer  remembered  as  both  good  and  great. 
Not  for  original  genius,  not  for  any  immortal 
work  of  art,  not  for  a  character  free  from 
blemishes  and  faults  does  she  claim  an  exalted 
place  among  women,  but  as  a  benefactor  of  her 
country  and  of  her  sex,  in  those  things  which 
shed  luster  around  homes  and  give  dignity  to 
the  human  soul. 

Emma  Willard  was  deeply  religious,  and 
never  lost  sight  of  the  highest  and  noblest 
things  in  her  educational  work.  Here  is  a 
beautiful  hymn  which  she  composed,  and  which 
was  sung  by  her  pupils  at  the  close  of  a  most 
thorough  examination: 

O  Thou,  the  First,  the  Last,  the  Best ! 

To  Thee  the  grateful  song  we  raise, 
Convinced  that  all  our  works  should  be 

Begun  and  ended  with  Thy  praise. 

It  is  from  Thee  the  thought  arose 
When  chants  the  nun  or  vestal  train, 

That  praise  is  sweeter  to  Thine  ear 
When  virgin  voices  hymn  the  strain. 

Lord,  bless  to  us  this  parting  scene; 

Sister  to  sister  bids  farewell ; 
They  wait  to  bear  us  to  our  homes, 

With  tender  parents  there  to  dwell. 


EMMA  WILLARD.  79 

Oh,  may  we  ever  live  to  Thee ! 

Then,  as  we  leave  earth's  care-worn  road, 
Angels  shall  wait  to  take  our  souls 
And  bear  them  to  our  Father,  God. 

An  interesting  occasion  in  the  life  of  Emma 
Willard  occurred  in  connection  with  the  visit 
of  General  Lafayette  to  this  country  in  1825. 
His  services  in  the  cause  of  American  inde- 
pendence, his  friendship  with  Washington,  his 
labors  in  behalf  of  constitutional  liberty  in 
France,  his  sufferings  in  an  Austrian  prison, 
and  the  mingled  gallantry  and  sentiment,  allied 
with  rank,  which  early  gave  him  prominence 
and  fame,  made  him  an  idol  to  the  American 
people.  It  is  doubtful  if  popular  enthusiasm 
has  ever  been  so  great  over  any  visitor  to  this 
country. 

Emma  Willard  was  enthusiastic  to  the  high- 
est degree,  and  the  coming  of  General  Lafay- 
ette to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  as  a  visitor  to  her  school, 
made  an  epoch  in  her  life.  She  wrote  for  the 
occasion  two  verses,  which  were  sung  in  his 
honor  by  the  young  ladies  of  the  school.  In 
the  second  verse  she  does  not  fail  to  bear  testi- 
mony to  her  faith  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  her 
Saviour.  Both  verses  are  of  peculiar  interest : 


80  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

And  art  thou,  then,  dear  hero,  come? 

And  do  our  eyes  behold  the  man 
Who  nerved  his  arm  and  bared  his  breast 

For  us,  ere  yet  our  life  began? 
For  us  and  for  our  native  land 

Thy  youthful  valor  dared  the  war; 
And  now,  in  winter  of  thine  age, 
Thou'st  come,  and  left  thy  loved  ones  far. 
Then  deep  and  dear  thy  welcome  be, 
Nor  think  thy  daughters  far  from  thee. 
Columbia's  daughters,  lo !  we  bend, 
And  claim  to  call  thee  father,  friend. 

But  was't  our  country's  rights  alone 

Impelled  Fayette  to  Freedom's  van? 
No,  'twas  the  love  of  human  kind — 

It  was  the  sacred  cause  of  man ; 
It  was  benevolence  sublime, 

Like  that  which  sways  the  Eternal  Mind ! 
And,  Benefactor  of  the  world, 

He  shed  his  blood  for  all  mankind. 
Then  deep  and  dear  thy  welcome  be, 
Nor  think  thy  daughters  far  from  thee. 
Daughters  of  human  kind,  we  bend, 
And  claim  to  call  thee  father,  friend. 

General  Lafayette  was  affected  to  tears  by 
this  reception  and  at  the  close  of  the  singing 
said :  "I  cannot  express  what  I  feel  on  this 
occasion ;  but  will  you,  Madam,  present  me  with 
three  copies  of  those  lines,  to  be  given  by  me, 
as  from  you,  to  my  three  daughters?" 


EMMA  WILLARD.  81 

The  sympathies  of  Emma  Willard,  like  those 
of  Lafayette  whom  she  so  warmly  admired, 
went  out  to  oppressed  and  needy  people  every- 
where. She  became  deeply  interested  in  the 
cause  of  Greece,  and  in  an  address  delivered  in 
1833  she  said:  "Where  is  there  a  child  so 
noble  in  its  lineage  as  Greece?  Where  does 
the  sun  shine  upon  a  people  so  bright  in  native 
intellect?  With  the  advantages  of  instruction, 
with  the  renovating  light  of  pure  Christianity, 
Greece  may  again  lead  the  nations  of  Europe 
not  merely  to  eminence  in  arts  and  arms,  but,  by 
moral  regeneration,  to  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  sons  of  God.  If  it  be  infatuation  to  be 
zealous  in  such  a  cause,  I  desire  to  be  in- 
fatuated. If  it  be  infatuation  to  be  moved 
with  compassion  for  degraded  and  imploring 
humanity,  who  of  us,  my  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, would  not  wish  to  follow  through  such 
infatuation  the  steps  of  our  blessed  Mas- 
ter?" 

Emma  Willard  was  a  woman  of  the  loftiest 
patriotism,  and  that  patriotism  was  always 
Christian.  Her  "National  Hymn"  deserves, 
in  my  judgment,  at  least  equal  appreciation 
with  good  Dr.  Smith's  "America."  It  ought 


82  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

to  be  in  all  the  hymn  books.  The  sentiment  is 
lofty  and  the  hymn  is  sublimely  reverent.  The 
verses  are  as  follows : 


God  save  America! 

God  grant  our  standard  may, 

Where'er  it  wave, 
Follow  the  just  and  right, 
Foremost  be  in  the  fight, 
And  glorious  still  in  might 

Our  own  to  save. 

Chorus — Father  Almighty, 

Humbly  we  crave, 

Save  Thou  America, 

Our  country  save ! 

God  keep  America — 

Of  nations  great  and  free, 

Man's  noblest  friend : 
Still  with  the  ocean  bound 
Our  continent  around, 
Each  State  in  place  be  found, 

Till  time  shall  end. 

God  bless  America — 
As  in  our  fathers'  day, 

So  evermore ! 

God  grant  all  discord  cease, 
Kind  brotherhoods  increase, 
And  truth  and  love  breathe  peace 

From  shore  to  shore ! 


EMMA  WILLARD.  83 

In  Emma  Willard's  case  the  promise  of  the 
Psalmist  that  the  righteous  shall  bear  fruit  in 
old  age  was  splendidly  realized.  To  the  close 
of  her  long  and  useful  life  she  maintained  her 
youthful  vivacity,  her  enthusiasm  of  spirit,  and 
her  power  to  work.  Her  diary  the  last  year  of 
her  life  still  notes  the  sermon  she  heard  on 
Sunday.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  she 
recorded  in  her  diary  every  sermon  she  heard 
during  the  last  thirty  years  of  her  life.  She 
attended  lectures  and  the  examinations  at  the 
Seminary  up  to  within  a  short  time  before  her 
death,  with  as  much  interest  as  she  had  taken 
twenty  years  before.  She  never  lost  her  taste 
for  reading  or  her  interest  in  public  affairs. 
She  still  took  long  drives  and  received  visits 
from  friends  and  read  new  books  which  were 
famous.  Every  Sunday  evening  she  collected 
around  her  hospitable  board  her  children  and 
grandchildren  and  great  grandchildren,  as  well 
as  others  among  her  intimate  friends,  and 
heard  them  repeat  passages  of  Scripture.  This 
was  a  habit  of  many  years,  and  beautiful  were 
those  family  reunions;  but  the  most  beautiful 
thing  about  them  was  the  venerable  figure  of 
the  benignant  old  lady  entering  into  every  sub- 


84  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

ject  of  interest  with  the  sympathy  of  youth  and 
receiving  from  all  the  profoundest  reverence 
and  respect. 

Thus  orderly,  harmoniously,  honorably,  hap- 
pily, did  this  noble  woman,  when  eighty  years 
had  rolled  over  her  life,  pass  her  declining  days. 
She  died  April  15,  1870,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three,  after  a  life  of  usefulness  and  happiness, 
honored  and  beloved  by  all  classes  and  by  a 
numerous  circle  of  friends.  A  distinguished 
educator  said  of  her  at  the  time  of  her  death : 
"In  the  fulness  of  age  she  approached  the  ter- 
mination of  life  with  the  calmness  of  Christian 
philosophy  and  the  faith  of  a  true  believer. 
When  the  last  hour  came,  the  final  struggle  was 
marked  by  fortitude  and  resignation,  and  the 
twilight  of  one  life  was  but  the  morning  rays 
of  another.  The  place  of  her  death  was  the 
old  Seminary  Building,  at  Troy.  Here,  half 
a  century  ago,  she  founded  an  institution  which 
has  been  an  honor  to  our  age  and  country. 
Here  she  taught  the  true  philosophy  of  living 
and  dying — works  done  in  faith  and  faith  made 
practical  in  works.  Here  she  inspired  thou- 
sands of  her  own  sex,  for  the  common  benefit 
of  us  all,  with  an  ardent  love  of  knowledge, 


EMMA  WILLARD.  85 

with  a  profound  reverence  for  the  great  truths 
of  religion,  and  with  the  aspiration  of  duty  to 
be  done;  and  here  she  impressed  upon  them  the 
nobility  of  her  own  nature." 

I  do  not  know  how  better  to  bring  to  a  close 
this  remembrance  of  the  Christian  character 
and  life  of  Emma  Willard  than  to  recall  her 
"Ocean  Hymn,"  which  will  perhaps  be  longest 
remembered  of  anything  she  wrote : 

Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep, 
I  lay  me  down  in  peace  to  sleep ; 
Secure  I  rest  upon  the  wave, 
For  thou,  O  Lord !  hast  power  to  save. 
I  know  thou  wilt  not  slight  my  call, 
For  thou  dost  mark  the  sparrow's  fall ; 
And  calm  and  peaceful  shall  I  sleep, 
Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep. 

When  in  the  dead  of  night  I  lie 
And  gaze  upon  the  trackless  sky, 
The  star -bespangled  heavenly  scroll, 
The  boundless  waters  as  they  roll, — 
I  feel  thy  wondrous  power  to  save 
From  perils  of  the  stormy  wave : 
Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep, 
I  calmly  rest  and  soundly  sleep. 

And  such  the  trust  that  still  were  mine, 
Though  stormy  winds  swept  o'er  the  brine, 
Or  though  the  tempest's  fiery  breath 
Roused  me  from  sleep  to  wreck  and  death! 


86  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

In  ocean-cave,  still  safe  with  thee, 
The  germ  of  immortality ! 
And  calm  and  peaceful  shall  I  sleep, 
Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep. 


DANIEL    WEBSTE  R 


DANIEL    WEBSTER. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

DANIEL  WEBSTER'S  first  text-book  was  the 
Bible,  and  he  read  it  as  far  back  as  he  could 
remember.  Rufus  Choate,  in  his  great  eulogy 
delivered  before  the  Boston  Bar,  referred  to 
the  "training  of  the  giant  infancy  on  Catechism 
and  Bible,  and  Watts'  version  of  the  Psalms." 

William  T.  Davis,  who  knew  Mr.  Webster 
well,  and  who  has  recently  written  of  him,  de- 
clares that  he  was  a  man  of  the  deepest  religious 
feeling  and  was  as  familiar  with  the  Bible  as 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It 
was  his  regular  habit  on  Sunday  morning  to 
gather  his  household  in  his  library,  and  after 
reading  from  the  Scriptures  to  address  them  on 
the  responsible  duties  of  life. 

In  his  boyhood  Daniel  Webster  joined  the 
orthodox  Congregational  Church  in  Salisbury, 


90  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

N.  H.,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Worcester.  When  he  removed  to  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.,  he  carried  a  letter  to  the  orthodox  Con- 
gregational Church  in  that  town,  under  the  pas- 
torate of  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Buckminster.  On 
removing  to  Boston,  Mr.  Webster  seems  to 
have  attended  for  a  time  on  the  ministry  of  Rev. 
Joseph  Stevens  Buckminster,  a  son  of  his 
former  pastor  in  Portsmouth,  who  was  now 
pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Brattle  Street  Church 
of  Boston.  He  attended  this  church,  however, 
but  three  years,  when  he  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  St.  Paul's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  He  attended  the  meetings  of  its  or- 
ganizers and  was  one  of  the  building  com- 
mittee in  the  construction  of  St.  Paul's  Church 
on  Tremont  Street.  He  occupied  pew  No.  25. 
Mr.  Webster  seems  to  have  kept  in  touch  with 
this  church  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  His  son 
Charles,  who  died  in  1824,  his  first  wife,  who 
died  in  1828,  and  his  son  Edward,  who  died  in 
Mexico  in  1848,  were  buried  in  the  vaults  of 
St.  Paul's  Church,  though  afterward  removed 
to  Marshfield. 

Bishop  Henry  B.  Whipple,  in  his  "Lights 
and  Shadows  of  a  Long  Episcopate,"  says  that 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  91 

his  aunt,  Mrs.  George  Whipple,  a  niece  of  Dan- 
iel Webster,  told  him  that  when  her  uncle  was 
staying  at  John  Taylor's,  in  New  Hampshire, 
he  attended  the  little  village  church  morning 
and  evening.  Another  United  States  Senator 
came  to  visit  him  while  he  was  there  and  said 
to  him,  "Mr.  Webster,  I  am  surprised  that  you 
go  twice  on  Sunday  to  hear  a  plain  country 
preacher  when  you  pay  little  attention  to  far 
abler  sermons  in  Washington." 

"In  Washington,"  Mr.  Webster  replied, 
"they  preach  to  Daniel  Webster,  the  statesman ; 
but  this  man  has  been  telling  Daniel  Webster, 
the  sinner,  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  it  has 
been  helping  him." 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  printed  in  recent 
years  to  give  the  impression  that  Daniel  Web- 
ster was  much  given  to  dissipation,  even  to  the 
extent  of  drunkenness.  We  are  told  of  saloon- 
keepers who  have  Daniel  Webster's  bust  in 
their  windows,  and  the  liquor  traffic  and  peo- 
ple who  are  of  a  convivial  turn  have  taken  great 
interest  in  increasing  and  deepening  that  im- 
pression. That  the  belief  is  utterly  unfounded 
no  honest  man  who  will  faithfully  search  out 
the  evidence  can  doubt.  Rev.  Edward  Everett 


92  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Hale,  D.D.,  is  surely  a  good  witness.  His 
testimony  would  be  held  anywhere  in  America 
as  of  the  highest  import  on  a  question  of  fact 
with  which  he  was  well  acquainted.  Here 
is  what  Dr.  Hale  has  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject: 

"Between  the  years  1826  and  1852,  when  he 
died,  I  must  have  seen  him  thousands  of  times. 
I  must  have  read  thousands  of  letters  from  him. 
I  have  been  I  know  not  how  often  at  his  house. 
My  father,  as  I  say,  was  his  intimate  friend. 
Now  it  was  to  me  a  matter  of  the  utmost  per- 
sonal surprise  when  I  found  gradually  growing 
up  in  this  country  the  impression  that  Mr. 
Webster  was  often,  not  to  say  generally,  over- 
come with  liquor  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 
I  should  say  that  now  a  third  part  of  the  anec- 
dotes of  him  which  you  find  afloat  have  refer- 
ence to  occasions  when  it  was  supposed  that, 
under  the  influence  of  whiskey,  he  did  not  know 
what  he  was  doing.  I  would  like  to  say,  there- 
fore, that  in  the  course  of  twenty-six  years, 
running  from  the  time  when  I  was  four  years 
old  to  the  time  when  I  was  thirty,  I  never  had 
a  dream  or  thought  that  he  cared  anything 
about  wine  or  liquor — certainly  I  never  sup- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  93 

posed  that  he  used  it  to  excess.  What  is  more, 
I  know  that  my  own  father,  who  lived  to  the 
year  1864,  heard  such  stories  as  these  with  per- 
fect disgust  and  indignation.  This  is  a  good 
place  to  print  my  opinion  that  this  class  of 
stories  has  been  nourished,  partly  carelessly 
and  partly  from  worse  motives,  and  they  are 
not  to  be  taken  as  real  indications  of  the  habit 
or  life  of  the  man." 

No  one  who  will  read  the  final  will  and  testa- 
ment of  Mr.  Webster  and  note  the  spirit  in 
which  he  faced  death  and  eternity  can  doubt 
the  depth  and  sincerity  of  his  religious 
convictions.  It  was  evidently  his  earnest 
wish  to  leave  behind  him  no  doubt  of  his 
faith  in  the  truth  of  Christianity.  He 
opened  his  will  with  these  solemn  para- 
graphs : 

"In  the  name  of  Almighty  God !  I,  Daniel 
Webster  of  Marshfield,  in  the  County  of  Ply- 
mouth, in  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, Esquire,  being  now  confined  to  my  house 
with  a  serious  illness,  which,  considering  my 
time  of  life,  is  undoubtedly  critical ;  but  being 
nevertheless  in  the  full  possession  of  my  mental 


94  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

faculties,  do  make  and  publish  this,  my  last  will 
and  testament : 

"I  commit  my  soul  into  the  hands  of  my 
heavenly  Father,  trusting  in  his  infinite  good- 
ness and  mercy. 

"I  direct  that  my  mortal  remains  be  buried 
in  the  family  vault  at  Marshfield,  where  monu- 
ments are  already  erected  to  my  deceased  chil- 
dren and  their  mother.  Two  places  are  marked 
for  other  monuments  of  exactly  the  same  size 
and  form.  One  of  these,  in  proper  time,  is  for 
me ;  and  perhaps  I  may  leave  an  epitaph.  The 
other  is  for  Mrs.  Webster.  Her  ancestors  and 
all  her  kindred  lie  in  a  far  distant  city.  My 
hope  is  that  after  many  years  she  may  come  to 
my  side  and  join  me  and  others  whom  God 
hath  given  me. 

"I  wish  to  be  buried  without  the  least  show 
or  ostentation,  but  in  a  manner  respectful  to 
my  neighbors,  whose  kindness  has  contributed 
so  much  to  the  happiness  of  me  and  mine,  and 
for  whose  prosperity  I  offer  sincere  prayers  to 
God." 

The  epitaph  which  Mr.  Webster  referred  to 
in  his  will  as  one  he  would  possibly  prepare  is 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  95 

now  engraved  on  his  monument  at  Marshfield. 
It  reads  as  follows : 


DANIEL  WEBSTER, 

Born  January  18,  1782, 

Died  October  24,  1852, 
Lord,  I  believe.  Help  Thou  mine  unbelief 
Philosophical  argument,  especially  that 
drawn  from  the  vastness  of  the  universe 
in  comparison  with  the  apparent  insignifi- 
cance of  this  globe,  has  sometimes  shaken 
my  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  in  me; 
but  my  heart  has  always  assured  and  re- 
assured me  that  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
must  be  a  Divine  Reality.  The  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  cannot  be  a  mere  human 
production.  This  belief  enters  into  the 
very  depth  of  my  conscience.  The  whole 
history  of  man  proves  it. 

After  Mr.  Webster  had  finished  his  will, 
which  was  a  very  lengthy  and  perplexing  paper, 
he  said :  "I  thank  God  for  strength  to  perform 
a  sensible  act."  He  then  engaged  in  prayer. 
During  that  prayer,  he  was  heard  to  utter  this 
sentence,  "Heavenly  Father,  forgive  my  sins, 


96  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

and  receive  me  to  thyself  through  Christ  Jesus." 
He  concluded  his  prayer  with  this  exclamation, 
"And  now  unto  God  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  be  praise  for  evermore.  Peace 
on  earth,  and  good  will  toward  men.  That  is 
the  happiness,  the  essence — good  will  toward 
men." 

A  most  curious  incident  in  reference  to  the 
death  of  Daniel  Webster  is  the  fact  that  he 
seemed  to  have  resolved  to  watch  the  process  of 
his  own  dissolution,  to  employ  his  intellectual 
faculties  in  scrutinizing  the  successive  steps  of 
progress  of  that  mysterious  and  wondrous 
change  which  takes  place  when  the  soul  severs 
the  bonds  which  bind  it  to  its  tenement  of  clay. 
This  explains  Mr.  Webster's  last  words,  uttered 
after  all  other  indications  of  life  had  disap- 
peared. As  if  intending  to  assure  those  who 
were  near  him  that  though  his  body  was  dying 
his  mind  did  not  share  in  its  decay  he  said,  with 
his  last  expiring  breath,  "I  still  live !" 

Webster  still  lives  as  an  inspiration  to  the 
new  generation  which  he  apostrophized  in  his 
splendid  Plymouth  oration :  "Advance,  then,  ye 
future  generations!  We  would  hail  you,  as 
you  rise  in  your  long  succession  to  fill  the  places 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  97 

which  we  now  fill,  and  to  taste  the  blessings  of 
existence  where  we  are  passing,  and  soon  shall 
have  passed,  our  own  human  duration.  We 
bid  you  welcome  to  this  pleasant  land  of  the 
fathers.  We  bid  you  welcome  to  the  healthful 
skies  and  the  verdant  fields  of  New  England. 
We  greet  your  accession  to  the  great  inheritance 
which  we  have  enjoyed.  We  welcome  you  to 
the  blessings  of  good  government  and  religious 
liberty.  We  welcome  you  to  the  treasures  of 
science  and  the  delights  of  learning.  We  wel- 
come you  to  the  transcendent  sweets  of  domes- 
tic life,  to  the  happiness  of  kindred,  and  parents, 
and  children.  We  welcome  you  to  the  im- 
measurable blessings  of  rational  existence,  the 
immortal  hope  of  Christianity,  and  the  light  of 
everlasting  truth!" 


MARY       LYON 


•, 


MARY   LYON. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

MARY  LYON. 

IN  writing  the  story  of  the  religious  life 
of  Mary  Lyon,  one  of  the  greatest  Christian 
educators  in  American  history,  the  chief  diffi- 
culty lies  in  the  embarrassment  of  resources. 

Miss  Lyon,  though  reared  in  a  Christian 
home,  had  not  given  herself  definitely  to  the 
Christian  life  until  she  went  to  attend  Rev. 
Joseph  Emerson's  school  in  Byfield,  Mass. 
Though  a  believer,  she  did  not  take  any  stand  in 
the  school  until  a  weekly  prayer-meeting  was 
appointed  by  Mr.  Emerson,  to  which  all  Chris- 
tians were  invited.  This  caused  Mary  much 
agitation  of  mind,  for  she  felt  that  there  was 
the  dividing  line.  She  must  now  class  her- 
self with  the  children  of  God  or  with  those 
who  knew  him  not.  She  said  that  she  had 
too  long  denied  Christ  before  men,  while  her 
conscience  testified  that  the  friends  of  God 
were  her  chosen  companions.  After  much 


102  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

deliberation  she  concluded  to  attend  the  meet- 
ing, and  she  never  regretted  her  decision. 

While  still  very  young,  Miss  Lyon  wrote  a 
letter  to  her  sister  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
revealing  not  only  the  strength  of  her  thought 
and  the  intensity  of  her  patriotism,  but  espe- 
cially the  deep  bed-rock  of  Christian  faith 
which  undergirded  all  her  thinking:  "This 
day,  you  will  recollect,  completes  half  a  cen- 
tury since  the  Declaration  of  our  Independence. 
How  interesting  must  be  the  reflections  of 
those  few  who  can  remember  that  eventful 
day!  And  to  every  one  the  events  of  our 
history  must  be  an  exciting  theme.  Who,  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  fifty  years  ago,  could 
have  anticipated  such  results?  It  is  true  that 
Washington,  and  almost  all  Americans  who 
lived  in  the  days  of  Washington,  hoped  for 
independence.  But  did  they  look  forward  to 
this  time,  and  anticipate  such  a  nation  as  this? 
Must  not  all  believe  that  'promotion  comes 
neither  from  the  East,  nor  from  the  West, 
nor  from  the  South;  but  God  is  the  Judge; 
he  putteth  down  one,  and  setteth  up  another'  ? 
Must  not  all  exclaim,  This  is  the  finger  of 
God'?" 


MARY  LYON.  103 

The  spirituality  of  her  mind  is  clearly 
revealed  in  a  letter  written  two  years  later  than 
this  last  quotation.  It  is  a  letter  to  one  of  her 
friends  in  which,  referring  to  her  own  spiritual 
life,  she  says:  "I  feel  that  there  is  one  way, 
and  only  one,  in  which  I  can  guard  against 
this  easily  besetting  sin,  and  that  is,  to  seek 
daily  the  presence  of  Him  who  can  turn  the 
hearts  of  all  as  the  rivers  of  water  are  turned. 
I  have  been  too  much  inclined  to  seek  to  direct 
my  own  path.  May  I  be  saved  from  this. 
The  Lord  in  his  great  mercy  has  given  me 
a  field  of  labor;  so  that  for  several  years  I 
have  not  doubted  about  the  path  of  duty.  The 
privilege  of  laboring  is  to  be  more  and  more 
precious.  I  would  not  choose  the  spot.  I 
would  not  choose  the  circumstances.  To  be 
able  to  do  something  is  a  privilege  of  which 
I  am  altogether  unworthy.  Should  I  be  laid 
aside,  as  a  useless  servant,  it  would  be  just. 
I  would  humbly  seek  that  I  may  be  permitted 
to  labor  faithfully  and  successfully,  that  I  may 
be  saved  from  those  temptations  which  my 
feeble  heart  cannot  withstand,  and  that  I  may 
be  blessed  with  whatever  may  be  desirable  for 
health  of  body,  and  health  of  mind,  and  for 


104  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

general  usefulness.  For  little  else  of  this  world 
do  I  feel  at  present  that  I  ought  to  ask.  May 
I  be  the  Lord's — spirit,  and  soul,  and  body." 

As  time  went  on,  and  Mary  Lyon  became 
more  and  more  intrenched  in  a  school  of  her 
own,  her  spiritual  life  deepened  and  her  activi- 
ties were  intensified  in  two  or  three  very  impor- 
tant ways.  She  became  greatly  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  instruction  in  Bible 
truths,  exceedingly  interested  in  the  conver- 
sion of  her  pupils,  and  more  and  more 
impressed  with  the  importance  of  great  liber- 
ality and  self-sacrifice  for  the  promotion  of  the 
work  of  foreign  missions.  I  think  she  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  what  is  now  quite  com- 
mon in  many  Christian  colleges — expecting 
revivals  in  the  school  and  definitely  laboring 
for  the  conversion  of  students  as  the  most 
important  part  of  the  college  work. 

One  autumn,  during  Miss  Lyon's  residence 
in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  she  wrote  her  mother  a 
letter  in  which  she  said:  "The  religious  state 
of  our  school  is  interesting  and  has  been  so 
for  several  weeks.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  evi- 
dently among  us,  operating  on  the  hearts  of 
our  dear  pupils.  The  work  is  silent  and  grad- 


MARY   LYON.  105 

ual,  but  the  effects  are  certain;  and  that  it  is 
the  work  of  God  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Eight 
or  nine  have  indulged  hope  that  they  have 
found  the  Saviour,  and  the  state  of  many 
others  is  very  encouraging.  So  far  the  work 
has  been  slow;  but  the  way  seems  all  pre- 
pared by  the  Holy  Spirit  for  richer  and  more 
abundant  displays  of  mercy.  It  does  appear 
that  the  fields  are  white  already  to  the  har- 
vest. The  blessing  seems  just  ready  to  descend 
upon  us.  If  there  is  no  Achan  in  the  camp, 
if  there  is  no  stumbling-block  in  the  way,  if 
there  is  not  a  manifest  and  decided  fault  on 
the  part  of  Christians,  we  shall  probably  see 
greater  things  than  these.  Perhaps  the  Lord 
may  put  it  into  the  heart  of  my  dear  mother 
to  pray  for  these  souls,  that  prayer  of  faith 
which  God  will  hear  in  heaven,  his  holy  dwell- 
ing place,  and  answer  on  earth." 

This  last  request  of  her  mother  was  the  char- 
acteristic precedent  to  all  the  great  revivals  in 
Mary  Lyon's  schools.  It  was  her  custom  in 
the  autumn  to  write  to  her  dear  Christian 
friends  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  enlist 
them  to  pray  for  the  spiritual  condition  of  her 
school.  She  had  wonderful  faith  in  prayer, 


106  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

and    the    results    marvelously    justified    her 
faith. 

The  next  spring  following  the  above  let- 
ter to  her  mother  she  wrote  to  her  sister  a 
letter  containing  this  remarkable  paragraph: 
"I  have  never  witnessed  such  an  improvement 
in  moral  character,  in  ardent  desire  to  possess 
meekness,  humility,  patience,  and  perseverance. 
A  spirit  of  benevolence  has  seemed  to  reign 
among  us  to  such  a  degree  that  selfishness  has 
appeared  to  most  of  our  little  community  some- 
what in  its  own  character.  .  .  .  Many 
intelligent,  refined  young  ladies,  brought  up 
in  the  lap  of  indulgence,  thought  they  would 
be  willing  to  go  to  the  remotest  corner  of 
the  world  and  teach  a  school  among  the  most 
degraded  and  ignorant,  might  it  only  be  said 
of  them  by  their  Master,  as  it  was  said  of 
one  of  old,  'She  hath  done  what  she  could.' 
But,  more  than  all,  we  have  been  visited  by 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Soon  after 
the  commencement  of  the  school  the  gentle 
dews  began  to  descend,  and  continued  to 
increase  until  the  last  week,  when  we  were 
blessed  with  a  plentiful  and  refreshing  shower. 
More  than  thirty  expressed  the  hope  that  they 


MARY   LYON.  107 

had  found  the  Saviour  precious  to  their  souls. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  term  more  than 
forty  indulged  in  this  hope." 

One  source  of  Mary  Lyon's  power  in  devel- 
oping Christian  character  in  her  pupils  was 
that  she  not  only  lived  a  Christian  life  her- 
self, but  also  regularly  studied  and  taught  the 
Bible  as  much  as  anything  else.  Her  manner 
was  simple.  There  was  not  the  slightest 
appearance  of  speaking  for  effect  or  trying  to 
speak  eloquently;  but  her  intense  faith  and 
earnestness  pervaded  every  word  and  made 
her  a  powerful  speaker.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  a 
former  president  of  Amherst  College,  says  that 
the  vividness  with  which  she  evidently  saw  and 
felt  the  very  truths  she  was  uttering  was  one 
secret  of  her  power.  If  she  had  ever  a  fleet- 
ing doubt  of  the  certainty  of  future  retribu- 
tion, that  doubt  was  never  known  or  suspected 
by  her  most  intimate  friends.  The  founda- 
tions of  her  faith  never  wavered.  The  princi- 
ples of  the  Christian  religion  seemed  inter- 
woven in  the  fibers  of  her  soul.  The  world  to 
come  was  as  present  to  her  thoughts  as  this 
world  to  her  eyes.  Her  confidence  in  God 
was  as  simple  and  true  as  a  child's  in  its 


108  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

mother.  She  felt  the  Saviour  to  be  present 
with  her,  her  friend,  her  counselor,  her  adviser, 
sustaining  and  directing  her  as  really  as  though 
she  had  seen  him  at  her  side,  had  leaned  bodily 
on  his  arm,  had  heard  his  lips  respond  to  her 
petitions,  and  seen  his  wounded  but  almighty 
hands  reach  down  deliverance. 

Mary  Lyon  had  broad  and  noble  ideas  con- 
cerning the  necessity  for  the  education  of 
women  and  the  possible  blessings  that  would 
come  from  it  to  the  world.  On  one  occasion, 
when  she  was  under  the  strain  of  great  effort 
to  obtain  needed  help  for  Mount  Holyoke 
Female  Seminary,  she  wrote  a  letter  to  a  lead- 
ing minister,  in  the  course  of  which  she  said : 
"Woman,  elevated  by  the  Christian  religion, 
was  designed  by  Providence  as  the  principal 
educator  of  our  race.  From  her  entrance  on 
womanhood  to  the  end  of  her  life  this  is  to 
be  her  great  business.  By  her  influence  not 
only  her  female  friends,  her  scholars,  and  her 
daughters  are  to  be  affected,  but  also  her  sons, 
her  brothers,  the  young  men  around  her,  and 
even  the  elder  men,  not  excepting  her  father 
and  his  peers.  Considering  the  qualifications 
which  the  mothers  in  our  land  now  possess, 


MARY  LYON.  109 

is  there  not  a  call  for  special  effort  from  some 
quarter  to  render  them  aid  in  fitting  their 
daughters  to  exert  such  an  influence  as  is 
needed  from  this  source  on  our  infant  republic, 
on  our  Christian  country?" 

Such  a  letter  would  not  seem  daring  now, 
but  it  took  a  prophet  to  write  it  seventy-five 
years  ago. 

A  little  glimpse  of  Miss  Lyon's  thought 
about  the  Sabbath,  as  well  as  the  use  she  put 
it  to  in  the  midst  of  her  campaigns  of  soul- 
winning,  is  shown  in  this  letter  to  a  friend 
written  in  March,  1843  :  "A  large  number  of 
hopeful  conversions  have  occurred  in  three 
days,  including  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  is 
of  indescribable  value  to  us.  There  can  be  no 
community  to  which  it  is  more  important.  In 
times  of  revival  it  seems  always  to  be  the 
day  that  God  delights  peculiarly  to  honor.  At 
other  times  it  seems  to  be  worth  more  than  all 
other  days  in  bringing  the  thoughts  into  cap- 
tivity to  the  will  of  Christ." 

I  can  only  refer  to  her  great  work  in  behalf 
of  foreign  missions.  So  many  missionaries 
went  out  from  her  seminary  that  worldly  fam- 
ilies became  afraid  to  send  their  daughters 


no  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

there  to  school,  lest  they  should  give  them- 
selves to  Christian  work.  After  her  death  one 
writer  suggested  the  breadth  of  her  mission- 
ary work  in  these  words:  "Is  she  missed? 
Scarcely  a  State  in  the  American  Union  but 
contains  those  she  trained.  Long  ere  this, 
amid  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Sioux  and 
the  villages  of  the  Cherokees  the  tear  of  the 
missionary  has  wet  the  page  which  has  told 
of  Miss  Lyon's  departure.  The  Sandwich 
Islander  will  ask  why  his  white  teacher's 
eye  is  dim  as  she  reads  her  American  letters. 
The  swarthy  African  will  lament  with  his  sor- 
rowing guide  who  cries,  'Help,  Lord,  for  the 
godly  ceaseth.'  The  cinnamon  groves  of  Cey- 
lon and  the  palm  trees  of  India  overshadow 
her  early  deceased  missionary  pupils,  while 
those  left  to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day  will  wail  the  saint  whose  prayers  and 
letters  they  so  prized.  Among  the  Nesto- 
rians  of  Persia  and  at  the  base  of  Mount 
Olympus  will  her  name  be  breathed  softly  as 
the  household  name  of  one  whom  God  hath 
taken." 


HENRY     CLAY 


CHAPTER    X. 

HENRY    CLAY. 

HENRY  CLAY,  like  his  great  contemporary, 
Daniel  Webster,  has  suffered  by  the  anecdotal 
gossip  which  has  grown  up  since  his  death. 
In  many  a  story  we  are  told  that  he  was  a 
gambler  and  a  duellist.  In  his  case  it  must 
be  admitted  that  there  is  far  more  foundation 
in  fact  than  for  the  stories  which  have  pur- 
sued Webster.  In  Henry  Clay's  youth  he  par- 
took largely  of  the  works  and  habits  of  the 
people  of  his  class  at  that  time;  and  yet  his 
biographers  all  agree  that  he  never  visited  a 
gambling  house  in  his  life  and  was  never  seen 
at  a  gaming  table  set  up  for  that  purpose.  In 
the  early  periods  of  his  public  career  he  did 
engage  with  his  associates  in  society  for  the 
excitements  of  the  games,  but  even  during 
these  years  never  allowed  cards  to  be  kept  in 
his  own  house.  That  he  did  yield  to  occasional 
play  in  his  youth  is  not  more  true  than  that 


ii4  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

he  always  condemned  the  practice  and  for  the 
last  thirty  years  of  his  life  abstained  from  it. 

It  is  also  true  that  twice  in  his  younger 
life  Henry  Clay  engaged  in  duels,  the  first 
with  Humphrey  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  and 
the  second  with  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke. 
All  that  can  be  said  about  it  is  that  it  was 
at  a  time  when  the  duello  held  the  club  over 
many  men,  and  it  was  often  true  that  a  man 
had  to  choose  between  giving  up  his  career 
and  abiding  by  it.  In  later  years  Henry  Clay 
regarded  the  laws  of  the  so-called  "code  of 
honor"  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  society  and 
of  God  and  deeply  felt  that  his  own  experiences 
were  blemishes  on  his  career  and  regretted 
beyond  words  his  part  in  them. 

Many  years  before  his  death  Mr.  Clay  defi- 
nitely accepted  Christ  as  his  Saviour  and  made 
a  public  profession  of  Christianity  at  his  home 
in  Kentucky,  where  he  was  baptized  in  the 
communion  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  during  the  later  years  of  his  life 
in  Washington  he  was  in  full  communion  with 
Trinity  parish  in  that  city.  No  one  could  have 
been  more  genuine,  more  sincere  and  frank 
about  his  beliefs,  whether  political  or  religious, 


HENRY  CLAY.  115 

than  Henry  Clay.  That  oft-quoted  declara- 
tion of  his,  "I  would  rather  be  right  than  be 
President,"  was  a  key  to  the  man's  character. 
Mr.  Clay's  belief  in  the  Bible,  his  reverence  for 
Christian  institutions  and  for  the  Divine  Will, 
was  often  illustrated  both  by  his  words  and 
life. 

In  his  farewell  speech  in  the  United  States 
Senate  in  1842,  Mr.  Clay  said:  "I  have  waited 
in  perfect  and  undoubting  confidence  for  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  justice  and  truth,  and  in 
the  entire  persuasion  that  time  would  settle 
all  things  as  they  should  be;  and  that  what- 
ever wrong  or  injustice  I  might  experience  at 
the  hands  of  man,  he  to  whom  all  hearts  are 
open  and  fully  known  would  by  the  inscru- 
table dispensations  of  his  providence  rectify  all 
errors,  redress  all  wrong,  and  cause  ample 
justice  to  be  done." 

In  the  opening  of  Mr.  Clay's  speech  at  Lex- 
ington, Ky.,  on  his  retirement  to  private  life, 
soon  after  the  above  words  had  been  uttered 
in  the  Senate,  he  said:  "I  feel  that  it  is  our 
first  duty  to  express  our  obligations  to  a  kind 
and  bountiful  Providence  for  the  copious  and 
genial  showers  with  which  he  has  blessed  our 


n6  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

land — a  refreshment  of  which  it  stood  much 
in  need.  For  one,  I  offer  to  him  my  humble, 
dutiful  thanks." 

It  was  Mr.  Clay's  habit,  especially  through 
the  latter  half  of  his  life,  on  all  proper  occa- 
sions, in  private  and  in  public,  to  make  a  relig- 
ious and  reverential  recognition  of  Divine 
Providence  and  to  speak  in  the  most  respectful 
manner  of  Christianity,  its  rites  and  its  insti- 
tutions. He  was  also  an  habitual  attendant  on 
the  public  services  of  religion.  On  a  Sunday 
evening,  some  time  after  the  result  of  the  Pres- 
idential election  of  1844,  which  was  the  great 
political  sunset  of  his  life,  had  become  known, 
while  sitting  at  his  own  fireside  with  two 
friends,  the  dark  prospects  of  the  country  being 
a  topic  for  conversation,  he  said,  pointing  with 
his  ringer  to  the  Bible  which  lay  on  the  table 
— the  only  book  there,  showing  the  use  that 
had  been  made  of  it:  "Gentlemen,  I  do  not 
know  anything  but  that  Book  that  can  recon- 
cile us  to  such  events." 

In  1845,  m  writing  to  some  Christian  women 
of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  who  had  made  him  a 
member  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  Mr.  Clay  said :  "I  request  you  to 


HENRY   CLAY.  117 

communicate  to  them  [the  ladies  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society]  my  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments for  this  -  distinguished  proof  of  their 
highly  appreciated  esteem  and  regard  and  to 
assure  them  that  I  share  with  them  a  pro- 
found sense  of  the  surpassing  importance  of 
the  Christian  religion,  and  believing,  as  I  sin- 
cerely do,  in  its  truth,  I  hope  and  trust  that 
their  laudable  endeavors  to  promote  and 
advance  its  cause  may  be  crowned  with  signal 
success." 

On  the  death  of  Henry  Clay  one  of  his  col- 
leagues from  Kentucky,  Mr.  John  C.  Breck- 
inridge,  in  his  address  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, said :  "But  the  approach  of  the 
destroyer  had  no  terrors  for  him.  No  clouds 
overhung  his  future.  He  met  the  end  with 
composure,  and  his  pathway  to  the  grave  was 
brightened  by  the  immortal  hope  which  springs 
from  the  Christian  faith. 

"Not  long  before  his  death,  having  just 
returned  from  Kentucky,  I  bore  to  him  a  token 
of  affection  from  his  excellent  wife.  Never 
can  I  forget  his  appearance,  his  manner,  or  his 
words.  After  speaking  of  his  family,  his 
friends,  and  his  country,  he  changed  the  con- 


n8  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

versation  to  his  own  future,  and  looking  on 
me  with  his  fine  eye  undimmed  and  his  voice 
full  of  its  original  compass  and  melody,  he 
said,  'I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  sir.  I  have 
hope,  faith,  and  some  confidence.  I  do  not 
think  any  man  can  be  entirely  certain  in  regard 
to  his  future  state,  but  I  have  abiding  trust 
in  the  merits  and  mediation  of  our  Saviour.' ' 
Rev.  Dr.  Butler,  who  was  chaplain  of  the 
United  States  Senate  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Clay's 
death,  delivered  a  funeral  discourse  at  the 
National  Hotel,  which  was  attended  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  chief 
officers  of  the  Government,  the  diplomatic 
corps,  and  the  members  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives.  His  text  was, 
"How  is  the  strong  staff  broken,  and  the  beau- 
tiful rod!"  (Jeremiah  48:17.)  In  that  pres- 
ence Dr.  Butler  related  this  interesting  history 
of  the  religious  experience  of  the  last  few 
weeks  of  the  life  of  Henry  Clay :  "It  is  since  his 
withdrawal  from  the  sittings  of  the  Senate 
that  I  have  been  made  particularly  acquainted 
with  his  religious  opinions,  character,  and  feel- 
ings. From  his  first  illness  he  expressed  to 
me  the  persuasion  that  it  would  be  fatal.  From 


HENRY   CLAY.  119 

that  period  until  his  death  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  hold  with  him  frequent  religious 
services  and  conversations.  He  averred  to 
me  his  full  faith  in  the  great  leading  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel — the  fall  and  sinfulness  of  man, 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  the  reality  and  necessity 
of  the  atonement,  the  need  of  being  born  again 
by  the  Spirit,  and  salvation  through  faith  in 
the  crucified  Redeemer.  His  own  personal 
hopes  of  salvation  he  ever  and  distinctly  based 
on  the  promises  and  the  grace  of  Christ.  Strik- 
ingly perceptible  on  his  naturally  impetuous 
and  impatient  character  was  the  influence  of 
grace  in  producing  submission  and  'patient 
waiting  for  Christ'  and  for  death.  On  one 
occasion  he  spoke  to  me  of  the  pious  example 
of  one  very  near  and  dear  to  him  as  that  which 
led  him  deeply  to  feel  and  earnestly  to  seek 
for  himself  the  reality  and  blessedness  of  relig- 
ion. At  another  time  he  told  me  that  he  had 
been  striving  to  form  a  conception  of  heaven; 
and  he  enlarged  upon  the  mercy  of  that  pro- 
vision by  which  our  Saviour  became  a  par- 
taker of  our  humanity,  that  our  hearts  anci 
hopes  might  fix  themselves  on  him.  On 
another  occasion,  when  he  was  supposed  to  be 


120  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

very  near  his  end,  I  expressed  to  him  the  hope 
that  his  mind  and  heart  were  at  peace  and 
that  he  was  able  to  rest  with  cheerful  con- 
fidence on  the  promises  and  merits  of  the 
Redeemer.  He  said  with  much  feeling  that 
he  endeavored  to  and  trusted  that  he  did 
repose  his  salvation  upon  Christ;  that  it  was 
too  late  for  him  to  look  at  Christianity  in  the 
light  of  speculation ;  that  he  had  never  doubted 
its  truths;  and  that  he  now  wished  to  throw 
himself  upon  it  as  a  practical  and  blessed  rem- 
edy. Very  soon  after  this  I  administered  to 
him  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Being 
extremely  feeble,  desirous  of  having  his  mind 
undiverted,  no  persons  were  present  but  his 
son  and  servant.  It  was  a  scene  long  to  be 
remembered — there,  in  that  still  chamber,  at  a 
week-day  noon,  the  tides  of  life  all  flowing 
strong  around  us,  three  disciples  of  the  Saviour 
— the  minister  of  God,  the  dying  statesman, 
and  his  servant,  a  partaker  of  the  like  precious 
faith — commemorating  their  Saviour's  dying 
love.  He  joined  in  the  blessed  sacrament  with 
great  feeling  and  solemnity — now  pressing  his 
hands  together  and  now  spreading  them  forth 
as  the  words  of  the  service  expressed  the  feel- 


HENRY   CLAY.  121 

ings,  desires,  supplications,  and  thanksgivings 
of  his  heart.  After  this  he  rallied,  and  again 
I  was  permitted  frequently  to  join  with  him 
in  religious  services,  conversation,  and  prayer. 
He  grew  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Among  the 
books  which  he  read  most  were  Jay's  'Morn- 
ing and  Evening  Exercises/  'The  Life  of  Dr. 
Chalmers,'  and  'The  Christian  Philosopher 
Triumphant  in  Death.'  His  hope  continued  to 
the  end,  though  true  and  real,  to  be  tremulous 
with  humility  rather  than  rapturous  with 
assurance.  When  he  felt  most  the  weariness 
of  his  protracted  sufferings  it  sufficed  to  sug- 
gest to  him  that  his  heavenly  Father  doubt- 
less knew  that  after  a  life  so  long,  stirring, 
and  tempted  such  discipline  of  chastening  and 
suffering  was  needful  to  make  him  meet  for 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints;  and  at  once  the 
words  of  meek  and  patient  acquiescence 
escaped  his  lips." 


STONEWALL   JACKSON 


CHAPTER    XL 
"STONEWALL"  JACKSON. 

THE  commanding  officer  of  his  regiment 
while  it  was  in  Mexico  following  the  Mexican 
War,  Colonel  Francis  Taylor,  was  the  first 
man  to  speak  to  Stonewall  Jackson  on  the 
subject  of  personal  religion.  Taylor  was  an 
earnest  Christian,  constantly  interested  in  the 
religious  welfare  of  his  soldiers.  He  made  a 
deep  impression  on  young  Jackson,  who  after 
this  conversation  resolved  to  study  the  Bible 
and  seek  all  the  light  within  his  reach. 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  soon 
after  settling  as  a  professor  at  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  Lexington,  Va.,  he  applied 
for  admission  into  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
making  a  public  profession  of  his  faith  in 
Christ  on  November  22,  1851.  He  soon 
became  a  deacon  in  the  church,  and  with  a 
soldier's  training  in  obedience  to  superior  com- 
mand he  followed  out  the  same  principles  in 


126  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

his  church  duties,  going  to  his  pastor  as  his 
chief  for  his  "orders,"  and  "reporting"  per- 
formance of  them  in  a  military  way. 

Few  men  had  such  reverence  for  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  as  had  Jackson,  and  he  often 
said  that,  had  his  education  fitted  him  for  it 
and  had  he  more  of  the  gift  of  speaking,  he 
would  have  entered  the  pulpit.  In  a  letter  to 
his  aunt,  Mrs.  Neale,  he  said,  "The  subject  of 
becoming  a  herald  of  the  Cross  has  often  seri- 
ously engaged  my  attention,  and  I  regard  it 
as  the  most  noble  of  all  professions.  It  was 
the  profession  of  our  divine  Redeemer,  and 
I  should  not  be  surprised  were  I  to  die  upon 
a  foreign  field,  clad  in  ministerial  armor,  fight- 
ing under  the  banner  of  Jesus.  What  could  be 
more  glorious?  But  my  conviction  is  that  I 
am  doing  good  here,  and  that  for  the  present 
I  am  where  God  would  have  me  be.  Within 
the  last  few  days  I  have  felt  an  unusual  relig- 
ious joy.  I  do  rejoice  to  walk  in  the  love  of 
God.  My  heavenly  Father  has  condescended 
to  use  me  as  an  instrument  in  getting  up  a 
large  Sabbath  school  for  the  negroes  here.  He 
has  greatly  blessed  it,  and,  I  trust,  all  who  are 
connected  with  it." 


"STONEWALL"  JACKSON.       127 

So  scrupulous  was  Jackson  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  duties  that  he  would  not  neglect 
even  the  smallest,  saying,  "One  instance  would 
be  a  precedent  for  another,  and  thus  my  rules 
would  be  broken  down."  After  his  conscience 
had  decided  upon  questions  of  right  and  wrong, 
his  resolution  and  independence  enabled  him 
to  carry  out  his  principles  with  a  total  disre- 
gard of  the  opinions  of  the  world.  He  thought 
it  a  great  weakness  in  others  to  care  what 
impression  their  conduct  made  upon  public 
opinion,  if  their  consciences  were  only  clear. 
The  fear  of  the  Lord  was  the  only  fear  he 
knew.  After  he  became  a  Christian  he  set 
'his  face  against  all  worldly  conformity,  giving 
up  dancing,  theater-going,  and  every  amuse- 
ment that  had  a  tendency  to  lead  his  thoughts 
and  heart  away  from  holy  things.  When  a 
question  was  raised  as  to  the  right  or  wrong 
of  indulgences  that  many  consider  innocent 
he  would  say,  pleasantly:  "Well,  I  know  it 
is  not  wrong  not  to  do  it,  so  I  am  going  to  be 
on  the  safe  side."  His  rule  was  never  to 
make  any  compromise  with  his  principles,  but 
there  was  not  a  particle  of  asceticism  or  gloom 
in  his  religion.  It  shed  perpetual  sunshine 


128  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

upon  his  life,  and  his  cheerful  serenity  was 
like  the  full  flowing  of  a  placid  stream.  His 
faith  and  trust  led  him  to  feel  that  nothing 
could  happen  to  him  but  what  was  sent  in  wis- 
dom and  love  by  his  heavenly  Father.  One 
of  his  favorite  texts  of  Scripture  was:  "We 
know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God." 

Mrs.  Jackson  in  her  biography  tells  us  that 
soon  after  he  united  with  the  church,  his 
pastor,  in  a  public  discourse,  urged  his  flock 
to  more  faithfulness  in  attending  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting,  and  enjoined  upon  the  church 
officers  and  members  especially  their  duty  to 
lead  in  prayer.  Hearing  this,  Major  Jackson, 
for  that  was  his  rank  at  the  time,  called  to 
inquire  if  he  was  among  those  who  were 
admonished  not  to  be  deterred  from  their  duty 
by  modesty  or  false  shame.  He  said  he  had 
not  been  used  to  public  speaking;  he  was  natu- 
rally diffident,  and  feared  an  effort  might  prove 
anything  but  edifying  to  the  assembly ;  "but," 
he  continued,  "you  are  my  pastor,  and  the 
spiritual  guide  of  the  church ;  and  if  you  think 
it  my  duty,  then  I  shall  waive  my  reluctance 
and  make  the  effort  to  lead  in  prayer,  however 


"STONEWALL"   JACKSON.      129 

painful  it  may  be."  Thus  authorized  to  call 
upon  him,  if  he  thought  proper,  after  a  time 
the  pastor  did  so..  In  responding  to  the  request 
Jackson's  embarrassment  was  so  great  that  the 
service  was  almost  as  painful  to  the  audience 
as  it  was  to  himself.  The  call  was  not  repeated, 
and  after  waiting  some  weeks  the  Major  again 
called  upon  the  pastor  to  know  if  he  had 
refrained  from  a  second  call  from  unwilling- 
ness to  inflict  distress  upon  him  through  his 
extreme  diffidence.  The  good  pastor  was 
obliged  to  admit  that  he  did  shrink  from 
requiring  of  him  a  duty  which  was  rendered 
at  such  a  sacrifice,  lest  his  own  enjoyment  of 
the  meeting  be  destroyed.  His  reply  had  the 
true  soldierly  spirit :  "Yes,  but  my  comfort  or 
discomfort  is  not  the  question ;  if  it  is  my  duty 
to  lead  in  prayer,  then  I  must  persevere  in  it 
until  I  learn  to  do  it  aright ;  and  I  wish  you  to 
discard  all  consideration  for  my  feelings." 
The  next  time  he  was  called  upon  he  suc- 
ceeded better  in  repressing  his  agitation,  and 
in  the  course  of  time  he  was  able  to  pour  out 
his  heart  before  God  with  as  much  freedom 
in  a  public  meeting  as  at  his  own  family 
prayers,  which  were  never  omitted. 


130  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Stonewall  Jackson  was  as  conscientious 
about  the  use  of  his  money  as  he  was  about 
his  time  and  influence.  In  his  giving  for  relig- 
ious purposes  he  adopted  the  Hebrew  system  of 
tithes,  contributing  every  year  one-tenth  of  his 
income  to  the  church. 

No  Christian  man  was  ever  more  careful 
of  his  personal  habits  than  Stonewall  Jackson. 
He  abstained  from  the  use  of  all  intoxicating 
drinks,  solely  from  principle,  having  a  fond- 
ness for  them,  as  he  himself  confessed,  and 
for  that  reason  never  daring  to  indulge  his 
taste.  During  the  war,  when  asked  by  a 
brother  officer  to  join  him  in  a  social  glass, 
he  replied :  "No,  I  thank  you,  but  I  never  use 
it;  I  am  more  afraid  of  it  than  of  Federal 
bullets."  Nor  did  he  use  tobacco  in  any  form, 
and  for  many  years  not  even  tea  and  coffee, 
believing  that  they  were  injurious  to  his 
health. 

As  an  instance  of  the  alacrity  with  which, 
once  convinced  that  a  thing  was  right  to  do, 
he  would  act,  his  biographer  relates  that  on 
one  occasion,  when  he  had  been  talking  of 
self-abnegation  and  making  rather  light  of  it, 
a  friend  suggested  that  he  had  not  been  called 


"STONEWALL"   JACKSON.       131 

upon  to  endure  it,  and  supposed  a  case :  "Imag- 
ine that  the  providence  of  God  seemed  to  direct 
you  to  drop  every  scheme  of  life  and  of  per- 
sonal advancement  and  go  on  a  mission  to 
the  heart  of  Africa  for  the  rest  of  your  days, 
would  you  go?"  His  eyes  flashed  as  he 
instantly  replied:  "I  would  go  without  my 
hat!" 

This  same  friend  once  asked  him  what  was 
his  understanding  of  the  Bible  command  to 
be  "instant  in  prayer"  and  to  "pray  without 
ceasing."  "I  can  give  you,"  he  said,  "my 
idea  of  it  by  illustration,  if  you  will  allow  it 
and  will  not  think  that  I  am  setting  myself  up 
as  a  model  for  others.  I  have  so  fixed  the 
habit  in  my  own  mind  that  I  never  raise  a 
glass  of  water  to  my  lips  without  lifting  my 
heart  to  God  in  thanks  and  prayer  for  the 
water  of  life.  Then,  when  we  take  our  meals, 
there  is  the  grace.  Whenever  I  drop  a  letter 
in  the  post-office,  I  send  a  petition  along  with 
it  for  God's  blessing  upon  its  mission  and  the 
person  to  whom  it  is  sent.  When  I  break  the 
seal  of  a  letter  just  received,  I  stop  to  ask 
God  to  prepare  me  for  its  contents  and  make 
it  a  messenger  of  good.  When  I  go  to  my 


132  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

class  room  and  await  the  arrangement  of  the 
cadets  in  their  places,  that  is  my  time  to  inter- 
cede with  God  for  them.  And  so  in  every  act 
of  the  day  I  had  made  the  practice  habitual." 

"And  don't  you  sometimes  forget  to  do 
this?"  asked  his  friend. 

"I  can  hardly  say  that  I  do;  the  habit  has 
become  almost  as  fixed  as  to  breathe." 

His  friend,  wishing  to  push  the  matter  still 
further,  asked  him:  "Major,  suppose  you 
should  lose  your  health  irreparably;  do  you 
think  you  could  be  happy  still?" 

He  answered:  "Yes,  I  should  be  happy 
still." 

"Well,  suppose  in  addition  to  life-long  ill- 
ness you  should  become  suddenly  blind;  do 
you  believe  your  serenity  would  remain 
unclouded  ?" 

He  paused  a  moment,  as  if  to  weigh  fully 
every  word  he  uttered,  and  then  said :  "I  am 
sure  of  it;  even  such  a  misfortune  could  not 
make  me  doubt  the  love  of  God." 

Still  further  to  test  him,  and  knowing  his 
impatience  of  anything  that  even  bordered  on 
dependence,  it  was  urged :  "But  if,  in  addition 
to  blindness  and  incurable  infirmity  and  pain, 


"STONEWALL"   JACKSON.      133 

you  had  to  receive  grudging  charity  from 
those  on  whom  you  had  no  claim — what 
then?" 

There  was  a  strange  reverence  in  his  lifted 
eyes,  and  an  exalted  expression  over  his  whole 
face,  as  he  replied,  with  slow  deliberateness, 
"If  it  were  God's  will,  I  think  I  could  lie 
there  content,  a  hundred  years!" 

Mrs.  Jackson  gives  a  very  tender  account 
of  her  husband's  conduct  at  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war.  He  had  hoped  and  prayed  for 
peace  and  with  great  sorrow  saw  the  last  hope 
fade  away.  The  morning  he  was  to  leave  he 
sent  a  message  to  his  pastor  requesting  him 
to  come  to  the  barracks  and  offer  a  prayer  with 
the  regiment  before  its  departure,  and  the  last 
thing  he  did  was  to  return  to  his  home,  take 
his  Bible,  and  read  that  beautiful  chapter  in 
Corinthians  beginning  with  the  sublime  hope 
of  the  resurrection — "For  we  know  that  if 
our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dis- 
solved, we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 
Then  he  knelt  down  beside  his  wife  and  com- 
mitted himself  and  her  whom  he  loved  to  the 
protecting  care  of  his  Father  in  heaven.  Never 


134  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

was  a  prayer  more  fervent  and  touching.  His 
voice  was  so  choked  with  emotion  that  he 
could  scarcely  utter  the  words,  and  one  of 
his  most  earnest  petitions  was  that,  "if  con- 
sistent with  his  will,  God  would  still  avert 
the  threatening  danger  and  grant  us  peace!" 
From  the  beginning  of  the  war  Stonewall 
Jackson  manifested  the  deepest  interest  in  the 
religious  welfare  of  his  men,  and  made  active 
efforts  to  promote  the  same.  He  once  said  to 
a  colporter,  "You  are  more  than  welcome  to 
my  camp,  and  I  shall  be  delighted  to  do  what 
I  can  to  promote  your  work.  I  am  more 
anxious  than  I  can  tell  you  that  my  men  shall 
be  good  soldiers  of  the  Cross."  One  who 
heard  him  lead  a  prayer  meeting  for  the  sol- 
diers a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  Chan- 
cellorsville  says,  "I  shall  never  forget  that 
meeting.  The  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
sweet  songs  of  praise,  the  simple,  earnest,  prac- 
tical talk,  and  the  tender,  appropriate,  fervent 
prayer  of  the  great  soldier  will  linger  in  my 
memory  through  life,  and  will  be  recalled,  I 
doubt  not,  when  I  meet  him  on  the  brighter 
shore." 


WASHINGTON    IRVING 


CHAPTER   XII. 

WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

ANY  one  who  has  ever  been  at  Tarrytown, 
N.  Y.,  in  the  summer  time  and  strolled  past 
Christ  Episcopal  Church  cannot  have  failed 
to  note  with  admiring  attention  the  splendid 
ivy  vine  which  has  climbed  its  way  upward 
until  it  has  covered  the  tower  with  its  great 
cloak  of  living  green,  changing  into  varying 
shades  of  beauty  as  the  summer  wanes  into  the 
autumn.  If  some  proud  citizen  has  told  the 
visitor  the  story  of  that  vine  it  has  added  very 
much  to  its  interest.  That  ivy  vine  was 
planted  by  Washington  Irving  with  his  own 
hand,  from  a  cutting  made  from  the  vine 
which  adorns  his  beautiful  and  historic  Sunny- 
side,  and  which,  in  turn,  came  from  a  cutting 
which  the  brilliant  author  brought  from  the 
ruins  of  Melrose  Abbey.  Perhaps  there  is  not 
in  all  America  a  more  picturesquely  historic 
vine.  This  vine  is  a  living  witness  to  Wash- 


138  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

ington  Irving's  interest  in  the  Christian 
Church.  If,  now,  you  go  inside  the  church, 
you  will  find  above  the  pew  where  he  used 
to  sit  a  beautiful  memorial  tablet  containing 
the  Irving  coat-of-arms,  two  royal  supporters 
holding  a  shield  emblazoned  with  holly  leaves, 
having  as  a  crest  a  hand  holding  a  bunch  of 
holly.  On  this  tablet  there  is  the  following 
inscription : 

WASHINGTON   IRVING 

Born  in  the  City  of  New  York,  April  5,  1783. 
For    many    years  a    Communicant    and 
Warden  of  the  Church,  and  Respect- 
fully one  of  its  Delegates  to  the 

Convention  of  the  Diocese. 

Loved,  honored,  revered,  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus 

March  28,  1859. 

The  venerable  pastor  of  that  picturesquely 
adorned  church  in  Tarrytown,  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
Sheldon  Spencer,  gave  Dr.  Ferdinand  C.  Igle- 
hart  some  exceedingly  interesting  reminis- 
cences of  the  religious  life  of  Irving.  Among 
other  things,  he  said :  "My  acquaintance  with 
Washington  Irving  began  in  1853,  and  it  soon 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.         139 

ripened  into  friendship  under  circumstances 
most  tender  and  affecting.  At  the  beginning 
of  my  ministry  in  Christ  Church,  Tarrytown, 
N.  Y.,  my  wife  died.  Irving  was  one  of  the 
first  to  call  upon  me  and  proffer  me  the  com- 
fort and  strength  of  his  tender  sympathy.  The 
warm  and  prolonged  pressure  of  his  hand 
made  me  feel  the  power  of  his  sympathy,  and 
then  followed  these  few  words,  softly  and 
gently  spoken,  'They  who  minister  to  others 
must  not  themselves  refuse  consolation.'  In 
my  sorrow  it  was  a  personal  revelation  of 
human  tenderness,  next  to  the  benediction  of 
the  Master. 

"I  can  never  forget  the  embarrassment  I 
first  experienced  in  preaching  before  him.  I 
painfully  anticipated  the  criticism  of  one  who 
stood  in  the  foremost  rank  of  all  authors.  But 
I  soon  found  that  there  was  no  more  devout  or 
attentive  hearer  in  the  church  than  he.  He 
sat  in  his  pew,  with  his  head  resting  lightly 
on  his  hand,  in  that  pensive  attitude  which  one 
of  his  portraits  exhibits.  He  would  thus  sit, 
with  his  eyes  intent  upon  the  speaker,  as  one 
anxious  to  receive  some  truth  for  his  soul's 
health.  With  all  his  powers  of  mind  he  knew 


140  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

of  no  other  spiritual  sustenance  than  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  and  its  plain,  simple  truths. 

"During  my  first  interview  with  him  at  Sun- 
nyside  he  introduced  the  subject  of  church 
music,  of  which  he  was  particularly  fond, 
though  I  do  not  think  he  could  sing  a  note; 
but  the  sentiment  and  the  melody  deeply 
affected  him.  He  referred  to  the  Gloria  in 
Excelsis.  Repeating  the  words  as  if  they  were 
the  joyful  refrain  of  his  own  heart,  he 
exclaimed,  his  eyes  filling  with  tears  and  his 
voice  trembling  with  emotion,  'That  is  relig- 
ion, Mr.  Spencer;  that  is  true  religion  for 
you.  I  never  hear  the  hymn  without  having 
my  mind  lifted  up  and  my  heart  made  better 
for  it.' 

"During  another  visit  he  spoke  to  me  of 
this  text,  which  had  profoundly  impressed  him : 
'My  son,  give  me  thine  heart.'  Years  before 
he  must  have  been  deeply  impressed  with  it, 
for,  on  looking  over  a  volume  of  Bishop  Wain- 
wright's  sermons,  I  found  one  on  the  text, 
accompanied  by  the  statement  that  it  was  sug- 
gested to  the  bishop  by  Washington  Irving  as 
a  text  which,  more  than  all  others,  he  should 
like  to  hear  treated  in  a  sermon.  On  another 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.         141 

occasion,  on  the  church  porch,  he  expressed 
with  great  feeling  the  same  general  thoughts, 
in  words  which  jnay  be  classed  with  the  best 
and  most  beautiful  he  ever  uttered :  'Religion 
is  of  the  heart,  not  of  the  head.  We  may,  with 
the  understanding,  approach  the  vestibule  of 
the  Temple;  but  it  is  only  with  the  heart  that 
we  can  enter  its  holy  precincts  and  draw  near 
its  sacred  altar.' ' 

Washington  Irving's  parents  were  Scotch 
Covenanters,  and  his  father  was  a  deacon  in 
the  church,  a  most  sedate  and  God-fearing 
man,  always  very  serious  in  his  intercourse 
with  his  family,  without  sympathy  in  the 
amusements  of  his  children.  Though  he  was 
not  without  tenderness  in  his  nature,  the  exhi- 
bition of  it  was  repressed  on  principle.  He 
was  a  man  of  high  character  and  honor, 
greatly  esteemed  by  his  associates.  He  endeav- 
ored to  bring  up  his  children  in  sound  relig- 
ious principles  and  to  leave  no  room  in  their 
lives  for  trivial  things.  One  of  the  two  weekly 
half-holidays  was  required  for  the  catechism, 
and  the  only  relaxation  from  the  three  church 
services  on  Sunday  was  the  reading  of  "Pil- 
grim's Progress." 


142  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Charles  Dudley  Warner  in  his  biography  of 
Irving  remarks  that  this  cold  and  severe  dis- 
cipline at  home  would  have  been  intolerable 
but  for  the  more  lovingly  demonstrative  and 
impulsive  character  of  the  mother,  whose  gen- 
tle nature  and  fine  intellect  won  the  tender  ven- 
eration of  her  children.  Of  the  father  they 
stood  in  awe;  his  conscientious  piety,  thor- 
oughly genuine,  nevertheless  failed  to  arouse 
any  religious  sensibility  in  them,  and  they 
revolted  from  a  teaching  which  seemed  to 
regard  everything  that  was  pleasant  as  wicked. 

Washington  Irving  was  a  bright,  happy 
child,  sportive  and  gladsome  in  his  disposi- 
tion ;  and  one  of  his  biographers  says  that  this 
used  to  give  even  his  mother  some  anxiety, 
and  she  would  look  at  him  with  a  half-mourn- 
ful admiration  and  exclaim,  "Oh,  Washing- 
ton !  If  you  were  only  good !"  While  he  was 
still  very  young  and  was  required  to  attend 
the  church  of  his  parents,  he  slipped  away 
at  other  hours  to  attend  the  Trinity  Episcopal 
Church  in  New  York  City,  where  the  family 
were  then  living.  His  conversion  was  a  very 
striking  occurrence.  When  he  first  began  to 
attend  Trinity  he  found  the  service  of  the  ritual 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.         143 

tedious  to  him  and  was  restless  under  it,  wait- 
ing impatiently  till  it  was  over,  and  then  set- 
tled himself  to  hear  the  sermon;  but  one  Sun- 
day as  he  was  entering  the  church  the  solemn 
exhortation  to  confession  was  being  read,  and 
the  thought  struck  him  that  he,  too,  had  sins 
to  confess,  and  so  he  fell  upon  his  knees  and 
joined  in  the  humble  confession  of  sins;  and 
from  that  day  forward,  until  the  end  of  his 
life,  the  church  service  was  to  him  an  increas- 
ing and  never-ending  source  of  comfort  and 
delight. 

Dr.  Spencer,  the  pastor  of  Christ  Church, 
Tarrytown,  already  quoted,  gives  a  number  of 
interesting  incidents  connected  with  Irving's 
church  life.  He  says  that  Mr.  Irving  took 
an  active  part  in  the  practical  work  of  the 
church.  After  his  return  from  Spain  as 
United  States  Minister  he  was  elected  warden 
of  the  church.  It  became  his  duty  among 
other  things  to  take  up  the  collection.  Many 
a  faithful  church-worker  in  other  denomina- 
tions will  appreciate  the  famous  author's  feel- 
ings on  that  subject.  On  coming  out  of  the 
church  one  Sunday  Irving  said,  his  eyes  twin- 
kling with  humor,  "I  have  passed  that  plate 


144  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

so  often  up  and  down  the  aisle  that  I  begin 
to  feel  like  a  highwayman.  I  feel  as  if  I 
could  stop  a  man  on  the  road  and  say,  'Your 
money  or  your  life!' ' 

An  amusing  story,  yet  one  having  an  illus- 
trative point  in  regard  to  Irving' s  nature,  is 
told.  At  one  of  the  vestry  meetings  a  Mr. 
Holmes,  one  of  the  members,  was  accompanied 
by  an  inoffensive  pet  dog  which  took  refuge 
at  his  feet.  There  was  an  animated  discus- 
sion. Mr.  Holmes  in  an  earnest  manner 
pressed  his  views  upon  the  meeting,  and  the 
discussion  threatened  to  be  prolonged  and 
serious.  When  he  had  ended,  Irving,  who 
was  always  a  peacemaker,  arose  and  inquired 
of  the  chairman  whether  Mr.  Holmes  should 
be  allowed  to  put  them  all  in  bodily  terror, 
adding  that  he  had  not  only  come  to  advo- 
cate his  measure,  but  had  brought  with  him 
a  fierce  beast  to  overawe  the  vestry  and  con- 
trol their  votes.  "And,"  he  added,  pointing 
to  the  little  dog,  "there  he  is  now  by  his 
side,  keeping  guard."  The  irresistible  droll- 
ery of  his  speech  and  manner  was  like  oil  upon 
the  troubled  waters  of  the  discussion  and  dif- 
fused a  feeling  of  perfect  good-nature  over 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.         145 

the  meeting  which  gave  a  satisfactory  settle- 
ment of  the  question. 

Irving  was  passionately  fond  of  children, 
and  he  had  for  them  a  constant  charm.  It  was 
a  common  thing  for  them  to  flock  about  him  on 
Sunday  at  the  church  door  and  decorate  him 
with  flowers  and  slip  bouquets  into  his  hand. 
The  tender  words  and  smiles  which  he  always 
had  ready  for  them  were  to  their  innocent 
hearts  the  rarest  of  treasures.  In  all  his  asso- 
ciation with  his  neighbors  and  fellow  church- 
members  he  was  natural  and  simple,  utterly 
without  affectation ;  and  while  a  vein  of  mirth 
and  humor  was  ever  bubbling  up  in  his  speech, 
there  was  never  anything  but  kindness  mani- 
fest in  it. 

Washington  Irving's  faith  in  God  and  his 
love  of  humanity  were  very  simple,  and  his 
life  and  literature  were  all  of  a  piece  with 
this  simple  faith.  Only  two  years  before 
Irving's  death  Bishop  W.  F.  Mallalieu,  then  a 
senior  in  Wesleyan  University,  at  Middletown, 
Conn.,  during  the  spring  vacation  took  a  little 
trip,  exploring  both  sides  of  the  Hudson  River 
from  New  York  to  the  Catskills.  This  trip 
took  him  through  Tarrytown,  and,  having  a 


146  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

schoolboy's  worship  for  heroes,  he  called, 
entirely  unannounced  and  without  recommen- 
dation, at  the  author's  home  at  Sunny  side.  An 
elderly  gentleman  opened  the  door,  and  the 
young  student  inquired : 

"Have  I  the  honor  of  addressing  Washing- 
ton Irving?" 

He  replied,  "Yes." 

Mallalieu  immediately  said,  "Mr.  Irving,  I 
am  a  student  in  my  senior  year  in  Wesleyan 
University,  Middletown,  Connecticut.  As  far 
distant  as  that  is,  we  have  often  heard  of  you, 
and  have  read  many  of  your  writings.  I  was 
visiting  points  of  interest  along  the  Hudson, 
and  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of 
calling  on  you." 

Mallalieu  then  began  to  tell  him  that  he  had 
no  introduction,  when  Irving  swung  the  door 
open,  and  in  the  most  cheery  tone  said :  "You 
have  no  need  of  an  introduction;  you  have 
attended  to  that  yourself.  Come  in,  come  in." 

He  then  proceeded  to  give  the  young  student 
an  hour  the  memory  of  which  has  been  "as 
ointment  poured  forth"  through  all  the  years 
since. 

Irving's  literature  was  like  his  life.     With- 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.         147 

out  exception  his  books  are  wholesome  and 
full  of  sweetness  and  charm.  There  was  never 
either  sting  or  poison  in  his  humor.  Though 
his  mirth  amuses,  it  is  an  innocent  gladness 
that  leaves  no  stain  upon  the  soul. 


CYRUS    WEST    FIELD 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

CYRUS  WEST  FIELD. 

CYRUS  WEST  FIELD,  the  man  whose  name 
will  be  forever  associated  with  the  laying  of  the 
first  ocean  cable  between  England  and  America, 
was  the  seventh  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  David 
Dudley  Field,  for  more  than  sixty  years  a 
distinguished  Congregational  minister.  The 
religious  life  of  Cyrus  Field  was  of  the  gen- 
uine, rugged  type  one  might  expect  from  such 
an  ancestor.  Although  the  old  Puritan  rigors 
vanished  and  a  breadth  and  catholicity  of  view 
developed,  the  sincerity  of  his  faith  was  as 
sure  as  the  New  England  granite. 

While  still  very  young  Cyrus  came  to  New 
York  and  was  apprenticed  to  A.  T.  Stewart, 
the  famous  merchant.  Soon  afterwards,  in 
writing  home  to  his  mother,  he  added  this 


152  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

postscript:  "Tell  father  that  I  have  read 
through  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  which  he  gave 
me  when  at  home,  and  that  I  like  it  very  much ; 
and  also  that  Goodrich  and  myself  take  turns 
in  reading  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  every  night 
before  we  go  to  bed." 

The  boy  in  the  boarding  house  who  reads  his 
Bible  and  has  his  nightly  prayer  with  his 
roommate  is  fitting  himself  well  for  the  same 
kind  of  honesty  and  integrity  which  caused 
Cyrus  Field,  years  afterwards,  when  he  had 
failed  in  business  and  had  been  discharged 
from  a  large  part  of  his  indebtedness,  to  care- 
fully search  out  his  old  creditors  as  soon  as 
he  regained  prosperity  and  pay  every  one  of 
them  together  with  seven  per  cent,  interest 
for  the  ten  years  that  had  elapsed.  The 
Bible  and  family  prayers  make  honesty  like 
that. 

The  entire  story  of  the  laying  of  the  first 
Atlantic  cable  is  perfumed  with  the  reverence 
and  Christian  faith  of  the  great  man  who  con- 
ceived the  idea  and  pushed  it,  through  inde- 
scribable opposition  and  difficulty,  to  final  suc- 
cess. In  1858  his  friend  and  pastor,  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Adams,  of  New  York  City,  wrote  a 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD.  153 

letter  to  Mr.  Field  in  which  is  this  paragraph : 
"I  do  not  know  whether  your  homeward 
thoughts  ever  include  your  minister,  but  mine 
very  frequently  traverse  the  sea  towards  you 
and  your  noble  enterprise.  We  have  all 
watched  with  great  interest  the  noble  bearing 
of  your  good  wife  in  all  the  sacrifices  which 
she  makes  for  you  and  the  cause  you  so  gal- 
lantly represent.  These  are  things  not  so  much 
thought  of  by  the  great  world;  but,  after  all, 
they  are  the  chief  elements  in  that  great  price 
which  we  are  compelled  to  pay  for  everything 
good  and  great." 

Cyrus  Field  was  a  man  of  strong  faith  in 
God,  and  it  steadied  his  life.  His  first  mes- 
sage to  the  Associated  Press  on  the  laying  of 
the  first  cable  contained  these  words,  "By  the 
blessing  of  divine  Providence  it  has  suc- 
ceeded." 

At  that  time  his  family  were  living  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Mass.  The  wife  and  children  were 
spending  the  afternoon  quietly,  when  all  were 
startled  by  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Field's 
mother.  Almost  breathless  with  excitement, 
she  exclaimed:  "Mary,  the  cable  is  laid. 
Thomas,  believest  thou  this  ?'  "  The  good 


154  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

wife  dropped  her  face  in  her  hands  and  gave 
herself  up  to  silent  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
his  goodness.  His  brother,  David  Dudley 
Field,  immediately  telegraphed  his  congratu- 
lations in  these  words :  "Your  family  is  all  at 
Stockbridge,  and  well.  The  joyful  news  arrived 
there  Thursday,  and  almost  overwhelmed  your 
wife.  Father  rejoiced  like  a  boy,  mother  was 
wild  with  delight.  Brothers,  sisters,  all  were 
overjoyed.  Bells  were  rung,  guns  fired;  chil- 
dren, let  out  of  school,  shouted,  'The  cable  is 
laid!  The  cable  is  laid!'  The  village  was 
in  a  tumult  of  joy.  My  dear  brother,  I  con- 
gratulate you.  God  bless  you." 

Dr.  William  Adams  wrote  Mrs.  Field  a 
beautiful  letter,  from  which  I  quote  this  inter- 
esting paragraph:  "What  shall  I  say  to  you? 
Words  can  give  no  idea  of  my  enthusiasm. 
As  your  pastor  I  have  known  somewhat  of 
your  own  private  griefs  and  trials,  and  the 
sacrifices  which  you  have  made  for  the  success 
of  your  noble  husband.  Now  the  hour  of 
reward  and  coronation  has  come  for  him  and 
for  you.  I  wrote  to  him  yesterday,  directing 
to  New  York,  to  be  ready  for  him  when  he 
came.  I  was  at  Andover  when  the  news  came, 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD.  155 

in  company  with  several  hundred  clergymen. 
We  cheered,  and  we  sang  praises  to  God.  I 
was  so  glad  that_your  husband  inserted  in  his 
first  dispatch  a  recognition  of  divine  Provi- 
dence in  his  success. 

"I  sprang  to  my  feet;  I  told  the  company 
that  I  was  the  pastor  of  Mr.  Field,  and  that 
the  last  thing  which  he  had  said  to  me  before 
starting  was  his  request  that  we  should  pray 
for  him;  and  then  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
pay  a  tribute  to  his  perseverance,  his  energy, 
and  his  genius,  which  I  did,  you  may  be  sure, 
in  no  measured  terms." 

This  triumph  was  only  temporary,  for  the 
cable  soon  dropped  into  silence,  and  then  fol- 
lowed long  years  of  mingled  hope  and  dis- 
appointment succeeding  each  other  at  rapid 
intervals.  Few  indeed  are  the  men  who  would 
not  have  given  up  in  despair.  But  Field  per- 
severed. He  tells  of  one  day  when  he  stood 
on  shipboard,  "The  day  was  cold  and  cheerless, 
the  air  was  misty,  and  the  wind  roughened 
the  sea;  and  when  I  thought  of  all  that  we 
had  passed  through,  of  the  hopes  thus  far 
disappointed,  of  the  friends  saddened  by  our 
reverses,  of  the  few  that  remained  to  sustain 


156  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

us,  I  felt  a  load  at  my  heart  almost  too  heavy 
to  bear,  though  my  confidence  was  firm  and  my 
determination  fixed."  And  there  that  load 
remained  until  the  end. 

At  last,  in  1856,  when  success  had  come 
again,  he  telegraphed  his  wife,  "All  well. 
Thank  God,  the  cable  has  been  successfully  laid 
and  is  in  perfect  working  order.  I  am  sure 
that  no  one  will  be  as  thankful  to  God  as  you 
and  our  dear  children.  Now  we  shall  be  a 
united  family." 

It  is  hard  for  the  younger  generation,  who 
have  been  accustomed  not  only  to  one  cable 
but  to  several,  and  have  never  thought  of 
continents  so  widely  separated  as  they  were  in 
the  old  times,  when  it  took  weeks  to  receive  an 
answer  to  a  communication  sent  across  the 
ocean,  to  appreciate  how  much  Field's  great 
work  meant  to  the  world.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  at  a  public  celebration  held  at  Fish- 
kill,  speaking  of  the  laying  of  the  cable,  said: 
"I  thought  all  the  way  in  riding  down  here 
to-night  how  strange  it  will  seem  to  have  that 
silent  cord  lying  in  the  sea,  perfectly  noiseless, 
perfectly  undisturbed  by  war  or  by  storm,  by 
the  paddles  of  steamers,  by  the  thunders  of 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD.  157 

navies  above  it,  far  down  beyond  all  anchor's 
reach,  beyond  all  plumbing  interference.  There 
will  be  earthquakes  that  will  shake  the  other 
world,  and  the  tidings  of  them  will  come  under 
the  silent  sea,  and  we  shall  know  them  upon 
the  hither  side,  but  the  cord  will  be  undis- 
turbed, though  it  bears  earthquakes  to  us. 
Markets  will  go  up,  and  fortunes  will  be  made 
down  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  The  silent 
highway  will  carry  it,  without  noise,  to  us. 
Fortunes  will  go  down,  and  bankruptcies  spread 
dismay,  and  the  silent  road  will  bear  this  mes- 
sage without  a  jar  and  without  disturbance. 
Without  voice  or  speech,  it  will  communicate 
thunders  and  earthquakes  and  tidings  of  war 
and  revolutions  and  all  those  things  that  fill 
the  air  with  clamor.  They  will  come  quick  as 
thought  from  the  scene  of  their  first  fever  and 
excitement,  flash  quick  as  thought  and  as  silent 
on  their  passage,  and  then  break  out  on  this 
side  with  fresh  tremor  and  excitement.  To  me 
the  functions  of  that  wire  seem,  in  some  sense, 
sublime — itself  impassive,  quiet,  still,  yet 
moving  either  hemisphere  and  its  ex- 
tremities by  the  tidings  that  are  to  issue 
out  of  it." 


158  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

The  peroration  of  this  same  address  was 
splendid :  "While  thus  we  are  enlarging  the 
facilities  of  action  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  main- 
tain at  home  domestic  virtue,  individual  intelli- 
gence; that  we  spread  our  common  schools, 
that  we  multiply  our  newspapers  throughout 
the  land,  that  we  make  books  more  plenty  than 
the  leaves  of  the  forest  trees.  Let  every  man 
among  us  be  a  reader  and  thinker  and  owner, 
and  so  he  will  be  an  actor.  And  when  all 
men  through  the  globe  are  readers,  when  all 
men  through  the  globe  are  thinkers,  when  all 
men  through  the  globe  are  actors — are  actors 
because  they  think  right — when  they  speak 
nation  to  nation,  when  from  the  rising  of  the 
sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same  there  is 
not  alone  a  free  intercourse  of  thought,  but 
one  current  of  heart,  virtue,  religion,  love — 
then  the  earth  will  have  blossomed  and  con- 
summated its  history." 

But  no  utterance  of  the  time  was  more 
splendid  in  every  way  or  more  thoroughly 
voiced  the  lofty  purpose  and  the  noble 
feeling  which  had  sustained  Cyrus  W. 
Field  through  all  his  years  of  struggle  than 
the  "Cable  Hymn,"  by  John  Greenleaf 


CYRUS   WEST   FIELD.          159 

Whittier.    The  three  closing  verses  illustrate 
its    sweep    of    vision    and    its    loftiness    of 

spirit : 

Weave  on,  swift  shuttle  of  the  Lord, 

Beneath  the  deep  so  far, 
The  bridal  robe  of  earth's  accord, 

The  funeral  shroud  of  war. 

For,  lo !  the  fall  of  ocean's  wall, 
Space  mocked,  and  time  outrun; 

And  round  the  world  the  thought  of  all 
Is  as  the  thought  of  one ! 

The  poles  unite,  the  zones  agree, 

The  tongues  of  striving  cease; 
As  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 

The  Christ  is  whispering  peace! 

On  December  2,  1890,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cyrus 
W.  Field  celebrated  their  golden  wedding. 
From  all  over  the  world  there  came  words  of 
greeting  and  good-will.  From  England  a  most 
loving  letter  came,  signed  by  a  large  number 
of  names,  among  which  were  the  Duke  of 
Argyll,  Canon  Farrar,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
others  whose  names  are  known  the  world  over. 
President  Henry  Morton  of  the  Stevens  Insti- 
tute read  the  following  poem,  which  will  make 


160  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

a  fit  conclusion  to  our  study  of  the  Christian 
life  of  this  very  remarkable  man : 

Golden  light  the  sun  is  shedding, 

Ushering  in  this  golden  wedding, 

As  he  did  on  that  bright  day 

Fifty  golden  years  away. 

Then  as  now  the  "golden  flowers," 

Lingering  after  summer's  hours, 

The  chrysanthemums  foretold 

Anniversary  of  gold. 

Golden  love  and  golden  truth 

To  gold  age  from  golden  youth, 

In  the  fire  of  life,  thrice  tried, 

Pure  themselves,  yet  purified 

By  the  sorrows  borne  together, 

By  the  stress  of  stormy  weather ; 

This  pure  gold,  outlasting  earth, 

Proves  its  own  celestial  birth, 

And  shall  shine  with  golden  light, 

Star-like,  from  Heaven's  dome  of  night. 


ROBERT   EDWARD  LEE 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ROBERT  E.  LEE. 

CHAPLAIN  J.  WILLIAM  JONES,  in  his  "Per- 
sonal Reminiscences  of  Robert  E.  Lee,"  tells  us 
that  while  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  con- 
fronted General  Meade  at  Mine  Run,  near  the 
end  of  November,  1863,  and  a  battle  was 
momentarily  expected,  General  Lee,  with  a 
number  of  general  and  staff  officers,  was  riding 
down  his  line  of  battle,  when,  just  in  the  rear 
of  General  A.  P.  Hill's  position,  the  cavalcade 
suddenly  came  upon  a  party  of  soldiers 
engaged  in  a  prayer  meeting.  An  attack  from 
the  enemy  seemed  imminent — already  the 
sharpshooting  along  the  skirmish-line  had 
begun — the  artillery  was  belching  forth  its 
hoarse  thunder,  and  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
great  chieftain  was  full  of  the  expected  com- 
bat. Yet,  as  he  saw  those  ragged  veterans 
bowed  in  prayer,  Lee  instantly  dismounted, 
uncovered  his  head,  and  devoutly  joined  in 


164  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

the  simple  worship.  The  rest  of  the  party  at 
once  followed  his  example,  and  those  humble 
privates  found  themselves  leading  the  devotions 
of  their  loved  and  honored  chieftains. 

It  is  related  that  as  his  army  was  crossing 
the  James,  in  1864,  and  hurrying  on  to  the 
defense  of  Petersburg,  General  Lee  turned  aside 
from  the  road,  and  kneeling  in  the  dust 
devoutly  joined  a  minister  present  in  earnest 
prayer  that  God  would  give  him  wisdom  and 
grace  in  the  new  stage  of  the  campaign  upon 
which  he  was  then  entering. 

Rev.  Dr.  T.  V.  Moore,  in  a  memorial  ser- 
mon on  Lee,  said  that  on  one  occasion  he  had 
the  opportunity  to  render  him  a  slight  ser- 
vice— so  slight  that,  knowing  the  General  to  be 
ill  and  under  a  terrible  strain  at  the  time,  he 
expected  no  acknowledgment;  but  to  his  sur- 
prise he  received  a  letter  thanking  him  for  the 
service,  and  adding:  "I  thank  you  especially 
that  I  have  a  place  in  your  prayers.  No  human 
power  can  avail  us  without  the  blessing  of 
God,  and  I  rejoice  to  know  that,  in  this  crisis 
of  our  affairs,  good  men  everywhere  are  sup- 
plicating him  for  his  favor  and  protection." 

One  day  when  General  Lee  was  inspecting 


ROBERT   E.    LEE.  165 

the  lines,  he  met  a  humble  colporter  who  was 
distributing  tracts.  The  General  asked  him  if 
he  ever  had  calte  for  prayer-books,  and  said 
that  if  he  would  call  at  his  headquarters  he 
would  give  him  some  for  distribution,  explain- 
ing that  a  friend  in  Richmond  had  given  him 
a  new  prayer-book,  and  upon  his  saying  that 
he  would  give  his  old  one  that  he  had  used 
ever  since  the  Mexican  war  to  some  soldier, 
the  friend  had  offered  him  a  dozen  new  books 
for  the  old  one,  and  he  had,  of  course,  accepted 
so  good  an  offer,  and  now  had  twelve  instead 
of  one  to  give  away.  The  colporter  called  at 
the  appointed  hour.  The  General  had  gone 
out  on  some  important  matter,  but  even  amid 
his  pressing  duties  had  left  the  prayer-books 
with  a  member  of  his  staff,  with  instructions 
concerning  them.  He  had  written  on  the 
flyleaf  of  each,  "Presented  by  R.  E. 
Lee."  No  doubt  they  are  still  cherished  as 
precious  legacies  and  heirlooms  in  South- 
ern homes. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  the  piety  of  Gen- 
eral Lee  seems  to  have  mellowed  and  deepened, 
and  his  career  as  a  college  president  at  Lexing- 
ton, Va.,  gave  bright  evidences  of  vital,  active 


166  RELIGIOUS  LIFE, 

godliness.  He  was  a  most  regular  attendant 
upon  all  the  services  of  his  own  church,  his 
seat  in  the  college-chapel  was  never  vacant 
unless  he  was  kept  away  by  sickness,  and  if 
there  was  a  union  prayer-meeting  anywhere, 
or  a  service  of  general  interest  in  any  of  the 
churches  of  Lexington,  General  Lee  was  sure 
to  be  among  the  most  devout  attendants.  His 
pew  in  his  own  church  was  immediately  in 
front  of  the  chancel,  his  seat  in  the  chapel 
was  the  second  from  the  pulpit,  and  he  seemed 
always  to  prefer  his  seat  near  the  preacher's 
stand.  He  always  devoutly  knelt  during 
prayer,  and  his  attitude  during  the  entire  ser- 
vice was  that  of  an  interested  listener  or  a 
reverential  participant. 

General  Lee  was  emphatically  a  man  of 
prayer.  He  was  accustomed  to  pray  in  his 
family  and  to  have  his  seasons  of  secret  prayer 
which  he  allowed  nothing,  however  pressing, 
to  interrupt.  He  was  also  a  constant  reader 
and  diligent  student  of  the  Bible  and  had  his 
regular  seasons  for  this  delightful  exercise. 
Even  amid  his  most  active  campaigns  he  found 
time  to  read  every  day  some  portion  of  God's 
.Word. 


ROBERT   E.    LEE.  167 

Not  only  did  General  Lee  read  the  Bible 
himself,  but  he  always  manifested  the  liveliest 
interest  in  circulating  it  among  others.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he*  was  an  active  promoter  of 
Bible  distribution  among  his  soldiers,  and  soon 
after  settling  in  Lexington  he  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  "Rockbridge  Bible  Society" 
and  continued  to  discharge  its  duties  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death.  In  his  letter  accepting  this 
office,  he  wrote:  "I  have  delayed  replying  to 
your  letter  informing  me  of  my  having  been 
elected  president  of  the  'Rockbridge  Bible  Soci- 
ety,' not  for  want  of  interest  in  the  subject,  but 
from  an  apprehension  that  I  should  not  be 
able  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  position  in 
such  manner  as  to  advance  the  high  object  pro- 
posed. Having,  however,  been  encouraged  by 
your  kind  assurance,  and  bein^  desirous  of 
co-operating  in  any  way  I  can  in  extending  the 
inestimable  knowledge  of  the  priceless  truths 
of  the  Bible,  I  accept  the  position  assigned 
me." 

General  Lee  manifested  the  deepest  concern 
for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  young  men 
under  his  care.  Soon  after  becoming  president 
of  Washington  College  he  said  with  deep  feel- 


1 68  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

ing  to  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  town :  "I  shall 
be  disappointed,  sir — I  shall  fail  in  the  leading 
object  that  brought  me  here — unless  these 
young  men  become  real  Christians ;  and  I  wish 
you  and  others  of  your  sacred  profession  to 
do  all  you  can  to  accomplish  this."  To  another 
pastor  he  said,  "I  dread  the  thought  of  any 
student  going  away  from  the  college  without 
becoming  a  sincere  Christian." 

At  the  beginning  of  each  session  of  the 
college  he  was  accustomed  to  address  an  auto- 
graph letter  to  the  pastors  of  Lexington,  invit- 
ing them  to  arrange  for  conducting  in  turn  the 
regular  chapel  services  of  the  college,  asking 
them  to  induce  the  students  to  attend  their  sev- 
eral churches  and  Bible  classes,  and  urging 
them  to  do  all  in  their  power  for  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  students.  Not  content  with  this 
general  request,  he  prepared  lists  of  the  stu- 
dents connected  with  particular  churches  and 
handed  these  to  the  several  pastors  with  the 
earnestly  expressed  wish  that  they  would  con- 
sider these  young  men  under  their  especial 
watch-care  and  give  them  every  attention  in 
their  power.  And  he  would  frequently  ask  a 
pastor  about  individual  students — whether 


ROBERT   E.   LEE.  169 

they  belonged  to  his  Bible  class  or  were  regular 
in  their  attendance  at  church. 

At  the  "Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges"  in 
Lexington,  in  1869,  a  pastor  present  made  an 
address  in  which  he  urged  that  the  great  need 
of  the  colleges  was  a  genuine,  pervasive 
revival;  that  this  could  come  only  from  God; 
and  that,  inasmuch  as  he  has  promised  his 
Holy  Spirit  to  those  who  ask  him,  they  should 
make  special  prayer  for  a  revival  in  the  col- 
leges of  the  country,  and  more  particularly  in 
Washington  College  and  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  Gen- 
eral Lee  went  to  him  and  said,  with  more 
than  his  usual  warmth :  "I  wish,  sir,  to  thank 
you  for  your  address;  it  was  just  what 
we  needed;  our  great  want  is  a  revival 
which  will  bring  these  young  men  to 
Christ." 

During  the  great  revival  which  followed 
in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  he  said  one 
day  to  his  pastor:  "That  is  the  best  news  I 
have  heard  since  I  have  been  in  Lexington. 
Would  that  we  could  have  such  a  revival  in 
all  our  colleges !" 

Rev.  Dr.  Kirkpatrick,  Professor  of  Moral 


1 70  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Philosophy  at  Washington  College  at  the 
time,  relates  the  following  concerning  a  con- 
versation he  had  with  General  Lee  just  a  short 
time  previous  to  his  fatal  illness :  "We  had 
been  conversing  for  some  time  respecting 
the  religious  welfare  of  the  students.  Gen- 
eral Lee's  feelings  then  became  so  intense  that 
for  a  time  his  utterance  was  choked;  but 
recovering  himself,  with  his  eyes  overflowing 
with  tears,  his  lips  quivering  with  emotion,  and 
both  hands  raised,  he  exclaimed,  'O  doctor! 
if  I  could  only  know  that  all  the  young  men 
in  the  college  were  good  Christians  I  should 
have  nothing  more  to  desire.'  ' 

General  Lee  was  a  member  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  and  was  sincerely 
attached  to  the  church  of  his  choice;  but  his 
large  heart  took  in  Christians  of  every  name; 
he  treated  ministers  of  all  denominations  with 
the  most  marked  courtesy  and  respect;  and 
it  may  be  truly  said  of  him  that  he  had  a 
heart  and  hand  "ready  to  every  good  work." 
When  once  asked  his  opinion  of  a  certain 
theological  question  which  was  exciting  con- 
siderable discussion,  he  replied,  "Oh !  I  never 
trouble  myself  about  such  questions ;  my  chief 


ROBERT   E.   LEE.  171 

concern  is  to  try  to  be  a  humble,  earnest 
Christian  myself." 

An  application  of  a  Jewish  soldier  for  per- 
mission to  attend  certain  ceremonies  of  his 
synagogue  in  Richmond  was  endorsed  by  his 
captain :  "Disapproved.  If  such  applications 
were  granted,  the  whole  army  would  turn 
Jews  or  shaking  Quakers."  When  the  paper 
came  before  General  Lee  he  endorsed  on  it: 
"Approved,  and  respectfully  returned  to  Cap- 
tain   ,  with  the  advice  that  he  should 

always  respect  the  religious  views  and  feel- 
ings of  others." 

The  venerable  pastor  of  one  of  the  churches 
in  Lexington,  speaking  at  General  Lee's 
funeral  services,  said,  with  deep  feeling:  "He 
belonged  to  one  branch  of  the  church  and  I 
to  another;  yet  in  my  intercourse  with  him 
— an  intercourse  rendered  far  more  frequent 
and  intimate  by  the  tender  sympathy  he  felt 
in  my  ill-health — the  thought  never  occurred 
to  me  that  we  belonged  to  different  churches. 
His  love  for  the  truth  and  for  all  that  is  good 
and  useful  was  such  as  to  render  his  brotherly 
kindness  and  charity  as  boundless  as  were  the 
wants  and  sorrows  of  his  race." 


172  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

One  of  his  biographers  closes  his  summary 
of  the  religious  character  of  General  Lee  by 
this  emphatic  statement :  "If  I  have  ever  come 
in  contact  with  a  sincere,  devout  Christian — 
one  who,  seeing  himself  to  be  a  sinner,  trusted 
alone  in  the  merits  of  Christ,  who  humbly  tried 
to  walk  the  path  of  duty,  'looking  unto  Jesus' 
as  the  author  and  finisher  of  his  faith,  and 
whose  piety  constantly  exhibited  itself  in  his 
daily  life — that  man  was  General  Robert  E. 
Lee." 


ANDREW    JACKSON 


CHAPTER    XV. 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

ANDREW  JACKSON,  twice  President  of  the 
United  States,  did  not  become  a  professed 
Christian  until  after  he  had  retired  from  politi- 
cal life  and  was  past  sixty  years  of  age.  He 
had  promised  his  wife  that  immediately  on 
retiring  from  politics  he  would  make  a  public 
profession  of  Christianity;  but  he  was  rather 
slow  in  keeping  the  promise.  In  August,  1838, 
he  wrote  in  answer  to  one  who  had  written  him 
on  the  subject :  "I  would  long  since  have  made 
this  solemn  public  dedication  to  Almighty  God, 
but  knowing  the  wretchedness  of  this  world, 
and  how  prone  many  are  to  evil,  that  the 
scoffer  of  religion  would  have  cried  out, 
'Hypocrisy!  He  has  joined  the  church  for 
political  effect,'  I  thought  it  best  to  post- 
pone this  public  act  until  my  retirement  to  the 


176  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

shades  of  private  life,  when  no  false  imputa- 
tion could  be  made  that  might  be  injurious 
to  religion." 

Tames  Parton,  his  most  careful  biographer, 
received  from  Rev.  Dr.  Edgar,  who  was  at 
the  time  pastor  of  an  influential  Presbyterian 
church  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  the  story  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  conversion.  Dr.  Edgar  said 
that  he  was  invited,  during  the  year  1839,  to 
the  Hermitage  to  administer  religious  advice 
to  the  wife  of  the  General's  son,  who  was 
sick,  and  also  troubled  in  mind.  During  the 
conversation  she  chanced  to  say,  in  General 
Jackson's  hearing,  that  she  felt  herself  to  be 
"a  great  sinner." 

"You  a  sinner?"  interposed  the  General. 
"Why,  you  are  all  purity  and  goodness!  Join 
Dr.  Edgar's  church  by  all  means." 

This  remark  was  considered  by  the  clergy- 
man a  proof  that  at  that  time  General  Jack- 
son was  blind  as  to  the  nature  of  true  relig- 
ion. 

Not  long  afterwards  a  protracted  meeting 
was  being  held  in  the  little  church  on  the 
Hermitage  farm.  General  Jackson  sat  in  his 
accustomed  seat  and  Dr.  Edgar  preached. 


ANDREW  JACKSON,  177 

The  subject  of  the  sermon  was  the  interposi- 
tion of  Providence  in  the  affairs  of  men,  a 
subject  congenial  with  the  habitual  tone  of 
General  Jackson's  mind.  The  preacher  spoke 
in  detail  of  the  perils  which  beset  the  life  of 
man,  and  how  often  he  is  preserved  from 
sickness  and  sudden  death.  Seeing  General 
Jackson  listening  with  rapt  attention  to  his 
discourse,  the  eloquent  preacher  sketched  the 
career  of  a  man  who,  in  addition  to  the  ordi- 
nary dangers  of  human  life,  had  encountered 
those  of  the  wilderness,  of  war,  and  of  keen 
political  conquest;  who  had  escaped  the  toma- 
hawk of  the  savage,  the  attack  of  his  country's 
enemies,  the  privations  and  fatigues  of  border 
warfare,  and  the  aim  of  the  assassin.  "How 
is  it,"  exclaimed  the  preacher,  "that  a  man 
endowed  with  reason  and  gifted  with  intelli- 
gence can  pass  through  such  scenes  as  these 
unharmed  and  not  see  the  hand  of  God  in  his 
deliverance?"  While  enlarging  on  his  theme 
Dr.  Edgar  saw  that  his  words  were  sinking 
deep  into  the  General's  heart. 

After  the  service  General  Jackson  got  into 
his  carriage  and  was  riding  homewards.  He 
was  overtaken  by  Dr.  Edgar  on  horseback. 


1 78  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

He  hailed  the  doctor  and  said  that  he  wished 
to  speak  with  him. 

"Doctor,"  said  the  General,  "I  want  you  to 
come  home  with  me  to-night." 

"I  cannot  to-night,"  was  the  reply;  "I  am 
engaged  elsewhere." 

"Doctor,"  repeated  the  General,  "I  want 
you  to  come  home  with  me  to-night." 

Dr.  Edgar  said  that  he  had  promised  to 
visit  a  sick  lady,  and  he  felt  bound  to  keep 
his  promise.  General  Jackson,  as  though  he 
had  not  heard  the  reply,  said  a  third  time, 
and  more  pleadingly  than  before:  "Doctor,  I 
want  you  to  come  home  with  me  to-night." 

"General  Jackson,"  said  the  clergyman,  "my 
word  is  pledged;  I  cannot  break  it;  but  I  will 
be  at  the  Hermitage  to-morrow  morning  very 
early." 

The  anxious  man,  under  the  deepest  con- 
viction of  sin,  was  obliged  to  let  it  rest  that 
way,  and  went  home  alone.  He  spent  the 
entire  night  pacing  his  room,  conversing  with 
his  daughter,  and  in  prayer.  It  was  a  time 
of  most  radical  and  momentous  revolution  in 
the  man's  nature.  His  biographer  says  of  that 
night:  "What  thoughts  passed  through  his 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  179 

mind  as  he  paced  his  room  in  the  silence  of 
the  night,  of  what  sins  he  repented,  and  what 
actions  of  his  life  he  wished  he  had  not  done, 
no  one  knows,  or  ever  will  know.  But  the 
value  of  this  upheaving  of  the  soul  depends 
upon  that.  There  is  a  repentance  which  is 
radical,  sublime,  regenerating.  There  is  a 
repentance  which  is  shallow  and  fruitless. 
Conversion  means  a  turning.  It  is  only  when 
we  know  from  what  a  man  turns,  and  to  what 
he  turns,  that  we  can  know  whether  his  turn- 
ing is  of  any  benefit  to  him.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  man's  emancipating  himself,  in  one 
night  of  agony  and  joy,  in  one  thrilling  instant 
of  time,  from  the  domination  of  pride  and 
desire.  He  who  is  walking  along  the  plain 
cannot  reach  the  mountain-top  in  a  moment; 
but  in  a  moment  he  can  set  his  face  toward 
it  and  begin  to  scale  the  heights." 

As  the  day  dawned  on  that  awful  night  of 
repentance  and  anguish,  the  light  from  Heaven 
broke  upon  Andrew  Jackson's  troubled  soul, 
and  a  great  peace  soothed  his  spirit. 

Dr.  Edgar  arrived  soon  after  sunrise  that 
Sunday  morning,  and  to  him  General  Jackson, 
in  the  first  flush  of  his  new  love  for  Christ 


180  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

and  his  new  joy  at  the  forgiveness  of  his 
sins,  expressed  a  desire  to  unite  with  the 
church  with  his  daughter  that  very  morning. 
The  minister  conversed  with  him,  putting 
the  usual  questions  respecting  doctrine  and 
experience,  and  all  were  satisfactorily  ans- 
wered. Then  there  was  a  pause  in  the  con- 
versation, at  the  close  of  which  Dr.  Edgar 
said,  very  solemnly:  "General,  there  is  one 
more  question  which  it  is  my  duty  to  ask  you. 
Can  you  forgive  all  your  enemies  ?" 

The  question  was  a  surprise,  and  for  a  few 
moments  Jackson  was  silent. 

"My  political  enemies,"  he  at  length  re- 
sponded, "I  can  freely  forgive;  but  as  for  those 
who  abused  me  when  I  was  serving  my  coun- 
try in  the  field,  and  those  who  attacked  me  for 
serving  my  country — Doctor,  that  is  a  differ- 
ent case." 

The  minister  assured  him  that  it  was  not  dif- 
ferent; but  that  forgiveness  of  our  enemies  is 
at  the  very  gateway  to  Christian  life,  that 
Christianity  forbids  the  indulgence  of  any 
hatred  whatever  and  absolutely  requires  the 
forgiveness  of  every  one  who  has  wronged  us 
in  any  way. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  181 

After  an  extended  pause  General  Jackson 
said  that  he  thought  he  could  forgive  all  who 
had  injured  him,  even  those  who  had  assailed 
him  for  what  he  had  done  for  his  country  in 
the  field.  Dr.  Edgar  then  consented  to  his 
uniting  with  the  church  that  morning,  and  left 
the  room  to  carry  the  glad  tidings  to  Mrs. 
Jackson.  She  hastened  to  the  General's  apart- 
ment. They  rushed  with  tears  into  each  other's 
arms  and  remained  long  in  a  fond  and  silent 
embrace. 

The  Hermitage  church  was  crowded  that 
Sunday  morning  to  the  utmost  of  its  small 
capacity.  At  the  windows  were  the  eager 
faces  of  the  colored  servants.  After  the  usual 
services  .General  Andrew  Jackson  rose  in  his 
place  to  make  the  required  public  declaration 
of  his  concurrence  with  the  doctrines  and  his 
resolve  to  obey  the  precepts  of  the  church.  He 
leaned  heavily  upon  his  walking  stick  with  both 
hands;  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks.  His 
daughter,  the  fair  young  matron,  stood  beside 
him.  The  silence  was  most  profound  and  the 
emotion  of  the  people  beyond  description  as  the 
General  answered  the  questions  proposed  to 
him.  When  at  last  the  formal  ceremony  was 


182  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

ended  and  he  was  pronounced  a  member  of  the 
church  and  Dr.  Edgar  was  about  to  continue 
the  services,  the  long  restrained  feelings  of  the 
congregation  burst  forth  in  sobs  and  devout 
exclamations  which  compelled  him  to  pause  for 
several  minutes.  The  clergyman  himself  was 
speechless  with  emotion  and  abandoned  him- 
self to  the  exultation  of  the  hour.  A  familiar 
hymn  was  announced,  and  all  the  people,  both 
within  the  church  and  outside  in  the  gathered 
groups  about  the  windows,  joined  with  an 
ecstatic  fervor  which  at  once  expressed  and  re- 
lieved their  feelings. 

No  one  who  knew  Andrew  Jackson  ever 
doubted  the  genuineness  and  sincerity  of  that 
conversion.  The  whole  character  and  life  of 
the  man  were  transformed.  From  that  Sun- 
day morning  when  he  stood  in  the  little  Her- 
mitage church  to  take  that  new  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  Christ  until  the  day  of  his  death  his 
Christian  character  was  his  chief  characteristic. 
During  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  spent  most 
of  his  leisure  hours  in  reading  the  Bible,  in 
studying  Bible  commentaries,  and  in  reading 
over  and  over  the  hymns  in  what  he  always 
pronounced  in  the  old-fashioned  way  his 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  183 

"Hime-book."  The  commentary  known  as 
"Scott's  Bible"  was  a  source  of  great  delight  to 
him ;  he  studiously  read  it  through  twice  before 
he  died.  He  held  prayers  every  evening  in  the 
presence  of  his  family  and  household  servants. 

On  the  last  Sunday  but  two  of  his  life  Gen- 
eral Jackson  partook  of  the  communion  in  the 
presence  of  his  family.  He  spoke  much  of  the 
consolation  of  religion  and  declared  he  was 
ready  for  the  final  summons.  To  one  who 
called  to  see  him  just  before  his  death  he  said, 
"I  am  in  the  hands  of  a  merciful  God.  I  have 
full  confidence  in  his  goodness  and  mercy.  My 
lamp  of  life  is  nearly  out  and  the  last  glimmer 
has  come.  I  am  ready  to  depart  when  called. 
The  Bible  is  true.  The  principles  and  statutes 
of  that  Holy  Book  have  been  the  rule  of  my 
life,  and  I  have  tried  to  conform  to  its  spirit  as 
nearly  as  possible.  Upon  that  sacred  volume 
I  rest  my  hope  for  eternal  salvation,  through 
the  merits  and  blood  of  our  blessed  Lord  and 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ." 

A  friend  of  the  family,  Mr.  William  Tyack, 
who  spent  a  few  days  at  the  Hermitage  as 
Andrew  Jackson  neared  his  sunset,  kept  a 
diary  in  which  he  recorded  Jackson's  con  versa- 


184  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

tion  and  the  events  which  occurred  in  the 
household.  Among  other  things  he  wrote: 
"At  nine  o'clock,  as  is  the  custom,  all  the  Gen- 
eral's family,  except  the  few  who  take  their 
turn  to  watch  by  his  side,  took  their  leave  of 
him;  each  of  the  family  approached  him,  re- 
ceived his  blessing,  bade  him  farewell;  kissed 
him,  as  it  would  seem,  an  eternal  good-night; 
for  he  would  say,  'My  work  is  done  for  life.' 
After  his  family  retires  it  is  touching  to  wit- 
ness this  heroic  man,  who  has  faced  every  dan- 
ger with  unyielding  front,  offer  up  his  prayer 
for  those  whom  Providence  has  committed  to 
his  care;  that  Heaven  would  protect  and  pros- 
per them  when  he  is  no  more — praying  still 
more  fervently  to  God  for  the  preservation  of 
his  country,  of  the  Union,  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  from  all  foreign  influence  and 
invasion — tendering  his  forgiveness  to  his  ene- 
mies, and  his  gratitude  to  God  for  his  support 
and  success  through  a  long  life,  and  for  the 
hope  of  eternal  salvation  through  the  merits  of 
our  blessed  Redeemer." 


ELISHA   KENT    KANE 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ELISHA     KENT   KANE. 

DR.  ELISHA  KENT  KANE,  the  famous  Arc- 
tic explorer,  was  brought  to  a  definite  and  com- 
forting Christian  experience  when  but  eighteen 
years  of  age  through  a  severe  illness  which 
brought  him  face  to  face  with  death.  For  a 
long  time  his  family  despaired  of  his  life,  and 
he  was  himself  persuaded  that  there  was  no 
hope  of  his  ever  making  himself  useful  or  hon- 
ored among  men.  His  biographer,  William 
Elder,  says  that  this  was  a  period  of  a  new 
birth  to  him.  "Coasting  the  infinite  so  long 
and  so  near,  it  opened  its  scenery  to  the  eyes  of 
his  spirit.  He  walked  in  its  light  thenceforth 
through  his  journey  to  the  end.  He  was  let 
into  his  own  inmost  life;  he  got  hold  of  his 
destiny,  and  he  ever  after  governed  himself 
conformably.  He  was  at  one  with  himself 
now,  and  knew  how  to  conciliate  order  and  lib- 
erty, to  obey  and  to  command,  to  accept  the 


i88  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

help  of  system  and  to  preserve  his  individual- 
ism under  it  without  conflict ;  he  stood  ready  to 
die,  but  he  did  not  despair." 

Dr.  Kane's  journals,  kept  during  his  long 
absence  in  the  frozen  North,  bear  eloquent  tes- 
timony of  his  faith.  Here  is  one  entry  concern- 
ing Christmas.  It  reads  thus :  "Sunday,  Dec. 
25.  The  birthday  of  Christ." 

Kane's  biographer  well  says  that  his  heroism 
would  have  been  reckless  if  it  had  not  been 
reverent ;  he  believed  that  whatever  God  wills, 
a  man  may  do;  he  believed  in  special  provi- 
dence. His  life  was  full  of  this  confidence.  In 
the  journal  of  his  second  Arctic  voyage  we  find 
this:  "It  is  twelve  months  to-day  since  I  re- 
turned from  the  weary  foot-tramp  which  de- 
termined me  to  try  the  winter  search.  Things 
have  changed  since  then,  and  the  prospect 
ahead  is  less  cheery.  But  I  close  my  pilgrim 
experience  of  the  year  with  devout  gratitude 
for  the  blessings  it  has  registered  and  an  ear- 
nest faith  in  the  support  it  pledges  for  the  times 
to  come." 

Speaking  of  a  time  when  things  were  at  their 
worst,  he  says :  "I  look  back  at  it  with  recol- 
lections like  those  of  a  nightmare.  Yet  I  was 


ELISHA   KENT   KANE.  189 

borne  up  wonderfully.  I  never  doubted  for 
an  instant  that  the  same  Providence  which  had 
guarded  us  through  the  long  darkness  of  win- 
ter was  still  watching  over  us  for  good,  and 
that  it  was  yet  in  reserve  for  us — for  some;  I 
dared  not  hope  for  all — to  bear  back  the  tidings 
of  our  rescue  to  a  Christian  land.  But  how,  I 
did  not  see." 

Dr.  Kane  had  great  faith  in  prayer,  and  Wil- 
son, one  of  the  rescue  party,  gives  this  account : 
"Just  before  we  started  [on  the  return  with  the 
rescued  men],  while  the  rest  of  the  party  sur- 
rounded the  sledge  with  uncovered  heads,  Dr. 
Kane  rendered  thanks  to  the  Great  Ruler  of 
human  destinies  for  the  goodness  he  had 
evinced  in  preserving  our  feeble  lives  while 
struggling  over  the  ice-desert,  exposed  to  a 
blast  almost  as  withering  as  that  from  a  fur- 
nace. The  scene  was  extremely  solemn  as, 
deeply  impressed  by  the  situation,  our  com- 
mander poured  forth  ready  and  eloquent  sen- 
tences of  gratitude  in  that  lonely  solitude, 
whose  scenery  offered  everything  to  depress 
the  mind  and  nothing  to  cheer  it.  Not  a  word 
fell  from  his  lips  that  did  not  find  a  ready  re- 
sponse in  our  own  hearts  when  we  reflected 


190  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

upon  the  dangers  we  had  undergone  and  the 
certainty  of  death  which  would  have  followed 
the  continuance  of  exposure  for  even  a  few 
hours." 

On  another  occasion,  Dr.  Kane  writes :  "I 
never  lost  my  hope;  I  looked  to  the  coming 
spring  as  full  of  responsibilities;  but  I  had 
bodily  strength  and  moral  tone  enough  to  look 
through  them  to  the  end.  A  trust  based  on 
experience  as  well  as  on  promises  buoyed  me 
up  at  the  worst  times.  Call  it  fatalism,  as  you 
ignorantly  may,  there  is  that  in  the  story  of 
every  eventful  life  which  teaches  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  human  means  and  the  present  control 
of  the  Supreme  Agency.  See  how  often  re- 
lief has  come  at  the  moment  of  extremity,  in 
forms  strangely  unsought — almost,  at  the  time, 
unwelcome;  see,  still  more,  how  the  back  has 
been  strengthened  to  its  increasing  burdens  and 
the  heart  cheered  by  some  conscious  influence 
of  an  Unseen  Power." 

The  Christian  heroism  of  Dr.  Kane  that 
served  him  for  his  own  great  trials  made  itself 
felt  in  every  man  in  his  party  and  kept  them 
from  despair.  One  of  them  afterwards,  when 
questioned  in  regard  to  it,  said :  "Well,  it  kept 


ELISHA   KENT   KANE.         191 

us  human  when  we  were  nearly  desperate. 
While  we  stood  with  uncovered  heads  in  an  at- 
mosphere far  below  zero,  his  prayers  brought 
up  the  spirit  of  society  and  civilization  in  us; 
and  although  we  perhaps  had  very  little  relig- 
ion in  us,  we  always  had  some  about  us." 

In  a  farewell  letter  to  his  father  on  one  occa- 
sion, as  he  was  about  to  leave  for  the  Arctic, 
he  wrote :  "Say  to  mother  to  have  no  fears  on 
Arctic  account.  I  am  not  entirely  well,  but  as 
well  as  I  would  be  at  home,  and  so  trusting  in 
the  Great  Disposer  of  good  and  ill  that  I  am 
willing  to  meet  like  a  man  the  worst  that  can 
happen  to  one  secure  of  right  and  approving 
heart  and  soul  of  that  in  which  he  is  engaged." 
After  the  good-bye  signature  there  is  this  sen- 
tence :  "Love,  my  last  word  is  Love." 

The  long  and  lonely  experiences  of  the  Arc- 
tic made  Dr.  Kane  deeply  introspective  and 
furnished  great  opportunity  for  communion 
with  his  own  soul  and  his  God.  Sitting  one 
day  at  his  father's  table,  after  his  return  from 
his  last  expedition,  some  one  closed  the  nar- 
rative of  a  dangerous  adventure  with  the 
words,  "I  never  encountered  anything  so  awful 
in  my  life."  The  doctor  had  been  for  an  hour 


192  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

silently  attentive  to  all  that  was  said.  At  this 
point  one  of  the  guests  turned  to  him  and 
asked,  "Dr.  Kane,  what  is  the  most  awful  thing 
that  you  ever  experienced?"  His  face 
took  a  devotionally  serious  expression;  and 
he  answered,  "The  silence  of  the  Arctic 
night!" 

On  another  occasion  he  gives  us  a  glimpse 
into  some  of  these  experiences  in  the  lonely 
North :  "I  am  afraid  to  speak  of  some  of  these 
night-scenes.  I  have  trodden  the  deck  and  the 
floes  when  the  life  of  earth  seemed  suspended 
— its  movements,  its  sounds,  its  coloring,  its 
companionships;  and  as  I  looked  on  the  radi- 
ant hemisphere  circling  above  me  as  if  render- 
ing worship  to  the  unseen  Centre  of  light  I 
have  ejaculated  in  humility  of  spirit,  'Lord, 
what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?' 
And  then  I  have  thought  of  the  kindly  world 
we  had  left,  with  its  revolving  sunshine  and 
shadow,  and  the  other  stars  that  gladden  it  in 
their  changes,  and  the  hearts  that  warm  to  us 
there,  till  I  lost  myself  in  memories  of  those 
who  were  not;  and  they  bore  me  back  to  the 
stars  again." 

Dr.  Kane  had  broad  sympathies  and  a  gen- 


ELISHA   KENT   KANE.          193 

erous,  compassionate  heart  which  gave  him  an 
interest,  gentle  and  tender,  towards  animals  as 
well  as  human  beings.  Horses  and  dogs  were 
something  more  than  pets  and  indulgences 
with  him;  his  attachment  to  them  was  a 
strongly  marked  feature  of  his  character.  He 
called  each  by  some  pet  name  always,  with  a 
feeling  which  kindly,  almost  respectfully,  ac- 
corded to  them  their  poor  claims  to  a  distinct 
individuality,  if  not  personality,  with  its  rights 
and  the  resulting  relations  with  their  masters 
and  among  themselves. 

On  one  occasion  an  elephant  on  exhibition 
at  the  Philadelphia  Circus  killed  his  keeper  and 
went  on  a  rampage  in  the  menagerie,  making  a 
general  jail-delivery  among  the  tiger  and  lion 
cages,  with  such  zeal  that  he  broke  one  of  his 
tusks.  The  alarm  roused  the  police,  and  the 
mayor  ordered  out  a  company  of  militia  to  kill 
the  enraged  animal.  Dr.  Kane  heard  the 
rumor,  and  exclaimed,  "The  cowardly  tyrants, 
to  call  the  elephant  mad !  An  animal  with  the 
intelligence  of  an  elephant  has  a  right  to  be 
indignant :  that's  the  word  for  it.  He  has  been 
outraged  by  a  brute  with  less  than  his  own  in- 
tellect and  nothing  of  his  sense  of  right;  and 


i94  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

now  he  must  be  murdered  to  check  his  just 
revenge." 

Dr.  Kane,  however,  was  no  pessimist  in  re- 
gard to  human  nature.  He  saw  something 
good  in  every  one.  To  a  friend  who  was  pat- 
ting a  dog,  after  he  had  been  abusing  some  of 
the  lowest  and  most  loathsome  of  our  own 
species  and  exploiting  the  depraved  side  of 
human  nature  generally,  he  said,  "I  like  your 
kindliness  to  the  poor  dog-people;  I  have  that 
feeling  more  than  moderately  strong  myself. 
But  I  never  saw  a  man  who  was  not  higher 
than  a  dog."  That  was  after  he  had  seen 
humanity  in  its  dregs  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe. 

When  Dr.  Kane  returned  from  his  last  Arc- 
tic voyage  he  requested  his  pastor,  Rev.  C.  W. 
Shields,  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Philadelphia,  to  which  his  parents  belonged 
and  where  he  had  been  baptized  as  a  child,  to 
make  public  thanksgiving  for  the  deliverance 
of  his  party  from  the  perils  of  their  cruise.  He 
greatly  enjoyed  the  service  and  warmly 
thanked  the  pastor  for  performing  it.  Before 
he  set  out  he  had  requested  public  prayer  to  be 
made  in  one  of  the  churches  in  New  York  for 


ELISHA   KENT   KANE.  195 

the  well-being  of  the  crew  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  enterprise. 

Death  came  to  the  heroic  explorer  in 
Havana,  Cuba.  His  mother  and  his  brothers 
were  with  him.  At  the  last  he  had  them  read 
to  him  the  Beatitudes,  and  then  asked  to  have 
repeated  to  him  David's  sweetest  Psalm :  "The 
Lord  is  my  shepherd :  I  shall  not  want."  The 
Good  Shepherd  had  led  the  traveler  on  many  a 
dangerous  and  daring  trail,  but  now  he  was 
leading  him  by  the  "still  waters."  Then  he 
asked  for  the  reading  of  those  precious  words 
with  which  the  Saviour  took  leave  of  his  weep- 
ing disciples :  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled : 
ye  believe  in  God;  believe  also  in  me.  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions;  if  it  were 
not  so,,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  pre- 
pare a  place  for  you."  Even  while  they  were 
reading  these  words  he  took  his  departure  and 
was  with  the  Lord. 

Surely  Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane  deserves  to 
live  in  history  as  a  great  Christian  hero.  His 
Arctic  explorations  stand  on  a  different  basis 
from  many  others.  His  search  for  the  party  of 
Sir  John  Franklin,  whom  he  believed  to  be 
still  living,  dignified  it  to  a  great  work  of 


196  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

humanity.  His  pastor  in  his  funeral  discourse 
declares  that  the  philanthropic  spirit  was  the 
crowning  charm  of  his  character  and  a  con- 
trolling motive  in  his  perilous  enterprise. 
"Other  promptings  indeed  were  there,  neither 
suppressed,  nor  in  themselves  to  be  depreciated. 
That  passion  for  adventure,,  that  love  of 
science,  that  generous  ambition  which  stimu- 
lated his  youthful  exploits  appear  now  under 
the  check  and  guidance  of  a  still  nobler  im- 
pulse. It  is  his  sympathy  with  the  lost  and 
suffering  and  the  duteous  conviction  that  it 
may  lie  in  his  power  to  liberate  them  from  their 
icy  dungeon  which  thrill  his  heart  and  nerve 
him  to  his  hard  task.  In  his  avowed  aim  the 
interests  of  geography  were  to  be  subordinate 
to  the  claims  of  humanity.  And  neither  the 
entreaties  of  affection  nor  the  imperiling  of  a 
fame  which  to  a  less  modest  spirit  would  have 
seemed  too  precious  to  hazard  could  swerve 
him  from  the  generous  purpose." 


AB IGA  I  L     ADAMS 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ABIGAIL    ADAMS. 

ABIGAIL  ADAMS  stands  alone  in  American 
history  as  the  one  woman  who  had  the  unique 
honor  of  being  the  wife  of  one  and  the  mother 
of  another  President  of  the  United  States. 
She  was  a  very  remarkable  woman  from  any 
standpoint,  and  one  cannot  read  her  letters  or 
the  story  of  her  life  without  discovering  that 
her  profound  religious  convictions  were  the 
source  of  much  of  her  greatness.  The  deep- 
est sorrow  of  her  life  was  the  long  separation 
which  she  was  compelled  to  endure  because  of 
her  husband's  duty  to  the  public;  but  it  is 
through  this  separation  that  we  have  many 
glimpses  into  the  lives  of  these  two  truly  great 
Americans.  When  the  Revolutionary  War 
broke  out  in  Boston,  she  closed  a  letter  giving 
a  graphic  description  of  occurrences  there  by 
saying,  "Hitherto  I  have  been  able  to  main- 
tain a  calmness  and  presence  of  mind ;  and  hope 


200  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

I  shall,  let  the  exigency  of  the  time  be  what  it 
will." 

John  Adams's  presence  and  services  were  so 
invaluable  in  Congress  that  he  could  not  be 
spared,  and  consequently  Mrs.  Adams  was 
called  upon  to  exercise  all  her  fortitude  and 
bear  up  in  great  measure  alone  under  the  ter- 
rible trials  of  war,  pestilence,  and  such  like 
evils;  yet  she  did  not  murmur,  and  she  sym- 
pathized fully  in  the  glowing  words  of  her  hus- 
band, who  had  been  the  great  and  eloquent  de- 
fender of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in 
July,  1776.  "You  will  think  me  transported 
with  enthusiasm,"  he  writes,  "but  I  am  not.  I 
am  well  aware  of  the  toil  and  blood  and  treas- 
ure that  it  will  cost  us  to  maintain  this  Declara- 
tion and  support  and  defend  these  States;  yet 
through  all  the  gloom  I  can  see  the  rays  of  rav- 
ishing light  and  glory.  I  can  see  the  end  is 
more  than  worth  all  thr  means  and  that  pos- 
terity will  triumph  in  that  day's  transaction, 
even  although  we  shall  rue  it,  which  I  trust  in 
God  we  shall  not." 

After  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  Abigail 
Adams  wrote  to  her  husband,  "  The  race  is 
not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong; 


ABIGAIL  ADAMS.  201 

but  the  God  of  Israel  is  he  that  giveth  strength 
and  power  unto  his  people.  Trust  in  him  at  all 
times;  ye  people,  pour  out  your  hearts  before 
him.  God  is  a  refuge  for  us.'  Charlestown  is 
laid  in  ashes." 

In  the  midst  of  these  troublous  times  per- 
sonal sorrows  and  bereavements  were  often 
calling  men  and  women  away  from  public 
affairs.  What  a  window  we  have  into  the 
tender  heart  and  confident  faith  of  this  great- 
souled  woman  in  this  letter  to  her  husband  tell- 
ing of  the  death  of  her  mother :  "  'Have  pity 
upon  me,  have  pity  upon  me,  O  thou  my  be- 
loved, for  the  hand  of  God  presseth  me  sore.' 
'Yet  will  I  be  dumb  and  silent,  and  not  open 
my  mouth,  because  thou,  O  Lord,  hast  done  it.' 
How  can  I  tell  you  (oh,  my  bursting  heart!) 
that  my  dear  mother  has  left  me — this  day, 
about  five  o'clock,  she  left  this  world  for  an  in- 
finitely better.  After  sustaining  sixteen  days' 
severe  conflict,  nature  fainted,  and  she  fell 
asleep.  Blessed  spirit!  Where  art  thou?  At 
times  I  am  almost  ready  to  faint  under  this 
severe  and  heavy  stroke,  separated  from  thee, 
who  used  to  be  a  comforter  to  me  in  affliction ; 
but,  blessed  be  God,  his  ear  is  not  heavy  that 


202  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

he  cannot  hear,  but  he  has  bid  us  call  upon  him 
in  time  of  trouble." 

During  the  long  absence  of  John  Adams  in 
Europe  Abigail  Adams  not  only  bore  her  own 
trials  and  carried  on  the  family  life  success- 
fully, but  she  buoyed  and  encouraged  her  hus- 
band by  letters  such  as  few  men  have  ever  re- 
ceived from  their  wives.  On  one  occasion  she 
writes  when  she  was  uncertain  as  to  his  loca- 
tion, for  there  was  often  a  long  time  between 
letters  in  those  old  slow  days:  "Hitherto  my 
wandering  ideas  have  roved,  like  the  son  of 
Ulysses,  from  sea  to  sea  and  from  shore  to 
shore,  not  knowing  where  to  find  you;  some- 
times I  fancied  you  upon  the  mighty  waters, 
sometimes  at  your  desired  haven,  sometimes 
upon  the  ungrateful  and  hostile  shore  of  Brit- 
ain, but  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  under  the 
protecting  care  and  guardianship  of  that 
Being  who  not  only  clothes  the  lilies  of  the 
field  and  hears  the  young  ravens  when  they  cry, 
but  hath  said,  'Of  how  much  more  worth  are 
ye  than  many  sparrows;'  and  this  confidence, 
which  the  world  cannot  deprive  me  of,  is  my 
food  by  day  and  my  rest  by  night  and  was  all 
my  consolation  under  the  horrid  ideas  of  as- 


ABIGAIL  ADAMS.  203 

sassination — the  only  event  of  which  I  had  not 
thought  and,  in  some  measure,  prepared  my 
mind." 

Abigail  Adams  was  as  great  a  mother  as  she 
was  a  wife,  and  some  of  her  letters  to  her  son, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  when  at  an  early  age  he 
was  absent  with  his  father  in  Europe  pursuing 
his  education,  bear  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
depth  of  her  Christian  character.  In  one  of 
these  letters  she  says  to  her  boy,  who  had  writ- 
ten her  of  a  narrow  escape  from  shipwreck: 
"You  have  seen  how  inadequate  the  aid  of 
man  would  have  been  if  the  winds  and  the  seas 
had  not  been  under  the  particular  government 
of  that  Being  who  'stretched  out  the  heavens 
as  a  span,'  who  'holdeth  the  ocean  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand,'  and  'rideth  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind.' 

"If  you  have  a  due  sense  of  your  preserva- 
tion your  next  consideration  will  be  for  what 
purpose  you  are  continuing  in  life.  It  is  not 
to  rove  from  clime  to  clime  to  gratify  an  idle 
curiosity ;  but  every  new  mercy  you  receive  is  a 
new  debt  upon  you,  a  new  obligation  to  a  dili- 
gent discharge  of  the  various  relations  in 
which  you  stand  connected;  in  the  first  place, 


204  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

to  your  great  Preserver ;  in  the  next,  to  society 
in  general;  in  particular,  to  your  country,  to 
your  parents,  and  to  yourself. 

"The  only  sure  and  permanent  foundation  of 
virtue  is  religion.  Let  this  important  truth  be 
engraven  upon  your  heart.  And  also,  that  the 
foundation  of  religion  is  the  belief  of  the  one 
only  God,  and  a  just  sense  of  his  attributes,  as 
a  Being  infinite,  wise,  just,  and  good,  to  whom 
you  owe  the  highest  reverence,  gratitude,  and 
adoration." 

In  the  spring  of  1785  Mrs.  Adams  accom- 
panied her  husband  to  England,  he  having  been 
appointed  the  first  American  Minister  at  the 
Court  of  St.  James.  It  was  a  position  of  great 
difficulty,  not  only  for  Mr.  Adams  but  for  his 
wife  as  well.  But  Abigail  Adams  was  equal 
to  the  occasion  and  bore  herself  with  the  most 
admirable  skill  and  spirit  in  her  trying  posi- 
tion. A  true  and  genuine  Christian  lady,  with- 
out pretension  or  affectation,  claiming  nothing 
for  herself  beyond  what  is  due  to  every  lady, 
but  expecting  and  requiring  from  the  haughti- 
est the  consideration  appropriate  to  her  rank  as 
representing  the  women  of  her  native  country, 
she  seems  to  have  charmed  the  nobility  and 


ABIGAIL  ADAMS.  205 

votaries  of  fashionable  life  by  her  unaffected 
simplicity,  gentleness,  refinement,  and  courtesy, 
and  fully  to  have  sustained  the  character  which 
her  countrywomen  may  well  have  admired. 
Though  subjected  to  many  annoyances,  Mrs. 
Adams  always  proved  herself  equal  to  every 
emergency  and  never  tarnished  the  fair  name 
of  the  people  to  whom  she  belonged. 

Fame  and  power  never  for  a  moment  dazzled 
the  eyes  of  this  sincere  Christian  woman.  In 
1797,  John  Adams  having  been  elected  the  suc- 
cessor of  Washington  as  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  his  wife  wrote  to  him  in  terms 
not  only  of  great  womanly  dignity,  but  in  sen- 
tences which  revealed  the  sincere,  spiritual 
quality  of  her  nature.  She  begins  her  letter 
with  a  little  couplet : 

"The  sun  is  dressed  in  brightest  beams, 
To  give  honor  to  the  day, 

and  may  it  prove  an  auspicious  prelude  to 
each  ensuing  season.  You  have  this  day  to  de- 
clare yourself  head  of  the  nation.  'And  now, 
O  Lord  my  God,  thou  hast  made  thy  servant 
ruler  over  the  people.  Give  unto  him  an 
understanding  heart,  that  he  may  know  how 


2o6  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

to  go  out  and  come  in  before  this  great 
people;  that  he  may  discern  between  good 
and  bad.  For  who  is  able  to  judge  this, 
thy  so  great  a  people?'  were  the  words  of 
a  royal  sovereign;  and  not  less  applicable  to 
him  who  is  invested  with  the  Chief  Magistracy 
of  a  nation,  though  he  wears  not  the  crown  nor 
the  robes  of  royalty. 

"My  thoughts  and  my  meditations  are  with 
you,  though  personally  absent;  and  my  peti- 
tions to  Heaven  are  that  'the  things  which 
make  for  peace  may  not  be  hidden  from  your 
eyes.'  My  feelings  are  not  those  of  pride  or 
ostentation  upon  the  occasion.  They  are 
solemnized  by  a  sense  of  the  obligations,  the 
important  trust  and  numerous  duties  connected 
with  it.  That  you  may  be  enabled  to  discharge 
them  with  honor  to  yourself,  with  justice  and 
impartiality  to  your  country,  and  with  satisfac- 
tion to  this  great  people,  shall  be  the  daily 
prayer  of  your  A.  A." 

When  Thomas  Jefferson  lost  his  daughter 
by  death,  Mrs.  Adams  wrote  him:  "I  have 
tasted  of  the  bitter  cup  and  bow  with  reverence 
and  submission  before  the  Great  Dispenser  of 
it,  without  whose  permission  and  overruling 


ABIGAIL  ADAMS.  207 

providence  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground. 
That  you  may  derive  comfort  and  consolation 
in  this  day  of  your  sorrow  and  affliction  from 
that  only  source  calculated  to  heal  the  wounded 
heart,  a  firm  belief  in  the  being,  perfections 
and  attributes  of  God,  is  the  sincere  and  ardent 
wish  of  her  who  once  took  pleasure  in  subscrib- 
ing herself  your  friend." 

Abigail  Adams  made  herself  supremely  es- 
sential to  the  two  great  men  forever  connected 
with  her  name,  her  husband  and  her  eldest  son. 
John  Adams  found  in  her  death,  though  he 
was  then  eighty-three  years  of  age,  the  severest 
affliction  which  had  ever  befallen  him.  She 
had  gone  through  the  vicissitudes  of  more  than 
half  a  century  in  his  company,  had  sympa- 
thized with  him  in  all  his  aspirations,  and  had 
cheered  him  in  his  greatest  trials.  Her  char- 
acter had  adapted  itself  to  his  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  improve  the  good  qualities  of  both. 

Her  eldest  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  re- 
turned home  after  eight  years'  diplomatic  ser- 
vice abroad  and  became  Secretary  of  State 
under  President  Monroe.  It  was,  no  doubt,  a 
great  gratification  to  his  mother  to  have  a  son 
whose  uprightness  of  character  and  abilities  as 


208  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

a  statesman  were  fully  and  freely  recognized; 
and  had  her  life  been  spared  but  a  few  years 
longer  she  would  have  seen  the  son,  as  she  had 
seen  the  father,  elevated  to  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States.  Though  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  at  the  time  of  his  mother's  death  a 
famous  man  in  mature  years,  her  loss  came  to 
him  as  a  great  shock,  and  he  wrote  of  it  that 
he  scarcely  knew  how  to  live  in  the  world  with 
his  mother  absent  from  it.  She  had  with  rare 
and  beautiful  fidelity  impressed  him  not  only 
with  her  mother  love  but  with  her  firm  relig- 
ious convictions  and  the  spiritual  quality  of  her 
great  soul. 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT 


WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

WILLIAM     CULLEN     BRYANT. 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT  was  brought  up 
in  a  Christian  home  and  from  his  earliest  baby- 
hood breathed  the  atmosphere  of  Christian 
faith.  He  says  of  his  childhood :  "I  naturally 
acquired  habits  of  devotion.  My  mother  and 
grandmother  had  taught  me,  as  soon  as  I  could 
speak,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  other  petitions 
suited  to  childhood,  and  I  may  be  said  to  have 
been  nurtured  on  Watts'  devout  poems  com- 
posed for  children.  The  prayer  of  the  Publi- 
can in  the  New  Testament  was  often  in  my 
mouth,  and  I  heard  every  variety  of  prayer  at 
the  Sunday  evening  services  conducted  by  lay- 
men in  private  houses.  But  I  varied  in  my 
private  devotions  from  these  models  in  one  re- 
spect— namely,  in  supplicating,  as  I  often  did, 
that  I  might  receive  the  gift  of  poetic  genius 
and  write  verses  that  might  endure.  I  pre- 
sented this  petition  in  those  early  years  with 


212  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

great  tervor;  but  after  a  time  I  discontinued 
the  practice,  I  can  hardly  say  why.  As  a  gen- 
eral rule,  whatever  I  might  innocently  wish  I 
did  not  see  why  I  should  not  have,  and  I  was 
a  firm  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer." 

Bryant  made  a  rhymed  version  of  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  Job  when  he  was  only 
ten  years  of  age.  It  began  as  follows : 

Job,  just  and  good,  in  Uz  had  sojourned  long; 
He  feared  his  God,  and  shunned  the  way  of  wrong. 
Three  were  his  daughters,  and  his  sons  were  seven, 
And  large  the  wealth  bestowed  on  him  by  heaven. 
Seven  thousand  sheep  were  in  his  pastures  fed, 
Three  thousand  camels  by  his  train  were  led; 
For  him  the  yoke  a  thousand  oxen  wore, 
Five  hundred  she-asses  his  burdens  bore. 
His  household  to  a  mighty  host  increased, 
Greatest  man  was  Job  in  all  the  East. 

The  great  poem  of  his  early  youth  was 
"Thanatopsis,"  written  when  he  was  but 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  revealing  the  no- 
bility of  his  thought  and  the  religious  spirit 
which  mastered  and  controlled  his  poetical 
gift. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  William  Cullen 
Bryant  was  sixty-four  years  of  age  that  he 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.     213 

was  moved  to  make  a  public  confession  of  his 
faith  in  Christ  in  a  formal  way.  He  was  liv- 
ing with  his  family  in  Naples  in  1858.  Mrs. 
Bryant  had  been  suddenly  prostrated  by  se- 
rious illness,  and  he  had  watched  over  her 
through  many  anxious  weeks.  A  Mr.  Water- 
ston,  a  minister  from  Boston  who  happened  to 
be  just  then  in  Naples  and  who  was  also  an 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Bryant,  received  from  him, 
on  April  23d  of  that  year,  a  note  stating  that 
there  was  a  subject  of  interest  upon  which  he 
would  like  to  converse  with  the  minister.  Mr. 
Waterston  recounts  the  story  as  follows : 

"On  the  following  day,  the  weather  being 
delightful,  we  walked  in  the  Villa  Reale,  the 
royal  park  or  garden  overlooking  the  Bay  of 
Naples.  Never  can  I  forget  the  beautiful 
spirit  that  breathed  through  every  word  he  ut- 
tered, the  reverent  love,  the  confiding  trust,  the 
aspiring  hope,  the  rooted  faith.  Every 
thought,  every  view,  was  generous  and  com- 
prehensive. Anxiously  watching,  as  he  had 
been  doing,  in  that  twilight  boundary  between 
this  world  and  another,  over  one  more  precious 
to  him  than  life  itself,  the  divine  truths  and 
promises  had  come  home  to  his  mind  with  new 


214  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

power.  He  said  that  he  had  never  united  him- 
self with  the  church,  which,  with  his  present 
feelings,  he  would  most  gladly  do.  He  then 
asked  if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  me  to  come 
to  his  room  on  the  morrow  and  administer 
the  communion,  adding  that,  as  he  had  not 
been  baptized,  he  desired  that  ordinance  at  the 
same  time.  The  day  following  was  the  Sab- 
bath and  a  most  heavenly  day.  In  the  fulfill- 
ment of  his  wishes,  in  his  own  quiet  room,  a 
company  of  seven  persons  celebrated  together 
the  Lord's  Supper.  With  hymns,  selections 
from  the  Scriptures,  and  devotional  exercises 
we  went  back  in  thought  to  the  'large  upper 
room'  where  Christ  first  instituted  the  Holy 
Supper  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples.  Previous 
to  the  breaking  of  bread  William  Cullen 
Bryant  was  baptized.  With  snow-white  head 
and  flowing  beard  he  stood  like  one  of  the  an- 
cient prophets,  and  perhaps  never  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  has  a  truer  disciple  pro- 
fessed allegiance  to  the  Divine  Master. 

"After  the  service,  while  standing  at  the 
window  looking  out  over  the  bay,  smooth  as 
glass  (the  same  water  over  which  the  Apostle 
Paul  sailed,  in  the  ship  from  Alexandria,  when 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.     215 

he  brought  Christianity  into  Italy),  the  grace- 
ful outline  of  the  Island  of  Capri  relieved 
against  the  sky,  with  that  glorious  scene  repos- 
ing before  us  Mr.  Bryant  repeated  the  lines  of 
John  Heyden,  the  Oriental  scholar  and  poet — 
lines  which  he  said  had  always  been  special 
favorites  of  his  and  of  which  he  was  often  re- 
minded by  that  holy  tranquillity  which  seems 
as  with  conscious  recognition  to  characterize 
the  Lord's  Day: 

With  silent  awe  I  hail  the  sacred  morn, 
That  scarcely  wakes  while  all  the  fields  are  still ; 

A  soothing  calm  on  every  breeze  is  borne, 
A  graver  murmur  echoes  from  the  hill, 

And  softer  sings  the  linnet  from  the  thorn. 

Hail,  light  serene !  hail,  sacred  Sabbath  morn ! 

Mr.  Bryant's  daughter,  writing  to  his 
biographer  of  his  personal  religious  habits, 
says  that  on  Sunday  mornings  he  always  read 
prayers  and  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  and  that 
she  supposed  it  was  only  on  Sundays,  because 
in  earlier  years  her  father  was  obliged  to  leave 
home  on  week  days  before  the  family  could  be 
assembled  for  prayers.  She  also  states  that 
often  in  the  evenings,  after  her  father  had  left 
the  parlor,  she  would  go  up  to  his  library,  and 


216  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

almost  always  find  him  reading  the  Book  of 
Prayers  or  some  other  religious  book.  He 
never  spoke  of  it,  but  she  knew  it  was  his  in- 
variable custom  to  read  in  his  room  some  pages 
of  books  of  this  kind  before  retiring.  On  Sun- 
day evenings,  if  anything  prevented  his  going 
to  church,  and  generally  in  the  country,  where 
there  was  no  evening  service,  he  read  a  ser- 
mon aloud,  choosing  from  a  wide  range,  often 
one  written  by  South,  or  Beecher,  or  Phillips 
Brooks,  or  Robertson.  Miss  Bryant  says: 
"Very  few  people  knew  how  much  of  my 
father's  time  was  occupied  with  religious  mat- 
ters, especially  during  the  last  years  of  his  life, 
and  after  my  mother's  death  he  read  more 
books  of  that  character  than  of  any  other." 

At  Roslyn,  his  country  home,  Mr.  Bryant 
was  a  trustee  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
which  Dr.  Ely  was  pastor.  In  New  York  City 
he  attended  the  successive  pastorates  of  Drs. 
Dewey,  Osgood,  and  Bellows.  Mr.  John  Bige- 
low,  his  biographer  in  the  "American  Men  of 
Letters"  series,  declares  that  "No  one  ever  rec- 
ognized more  completely  or  more  devoutly  the 
divinity  of  Christ."  Not  long  before  his 
death  his  friend,  Dr.  Alden,  published  a  little 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.     217 

volume  entitled  "Thoughts  on  the  Religious 
Life,"  and  one  of  the  last  things  Bryant  ever 
wrote  was  a  preface  to  this  book,  in  which  he 
said: 

"This  character,  of  which  Christ  was  the 
perfect  model,  is  in  itself  so  attractive,  so  'alto- 
gether lovely/  that  I  cannot  describe  in  lan- 
guage the  admiration  with  which  I  regard  it; 
nor  can  I  express  the  gratitude  I  feel  for  the 
dispensation  which  bestowed  that  example  on 
mankind,  for  the  truths  which  he  taught  and 
the  sufferings  he  endured  for  our  sakes.  I 
tremble  to  think  what  the  world  would  be  with- 
out him.  Take  away  the  blessing  of  the  advent 
of  his  life  and  the  blessings  purchased  by  his 
death,  in  what  an  abyss  of  guilt  would  man 
have  been  left?  It  would  seem  to  have  been 
blotting  out  the  sun  from  the  heavens — to 
leave  our  system  of  worlds  in  chaos,  frost,  and 
darkness. 

"In  my  view  of  the  life,  the  teachings,  the 
labors,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  blessed  Jesus 
there  can  be  no  admiration  too  profound,  no 
love  of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable  too 
warm,  no  gratitude  too  earnest  and  deep,  of 
which  he  is  justly  the  object.  It  is  with  sor- 


218  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

row  that  my  love  for  him  is  so  cold  and  my 
gratitude  so  inadequate. 

"The  religious  man  finds  in  his  relations  to 
his  Maker  a  support  to  his  virtue  which  others 
cannot  have.  He  acts  always  with  a  conscious- 
ness that  he  is  immediately  under  the  eye  of  a 
Being  who  looks  into  his  heart  and  sees  his  in- 
most thoughts  and  discerns  the  motives  which 
he  is  half  unwilling  to  acknowledge  even  to 
himself.  He  feels  that  he  is  under  the  inspec- 
tion of  a  Being  who  is  only  pleased  with  right 
motives  and  purity  of  intention  and  who  is  dis- 
pleased with  whatever  is  otherwise.  He  feels 
that  the  approbation  of  that  Being  is  infinitely 
more  to  be  valued  than  the  applause  of  all  man- 
kind and  his  displeasure  more  to  be  feared  and 
more  to  be  avoided  than  any  disgrace  which  he 
might  sustain  from  his  brethren  of  mankind." 

Miss  Bryant,  writing  to  her  father's  biogra- 
pher, says  of  this  preface  to  Dr.  Alden's  book : 
"The  Preface  must  have  been  one  of  the  last 
things  written  by  my  father.  It  speaks  more 
fully  than  I  have  known  him  to  do  elsewhere 
of  his  religious  belief  and  of  his  belief  in 
Christ,  and  is  very  touching,  I  think.  I  re- 
member how  earnestly  he  used  to  enjoin  upon 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.    219 

me  to  study  the  character  and  example  of 
Christ  and  to  try  to  follow  it.  He  was  so  re- 
served even  with  his  children  in  speaking  of 
such  subjects  that  he  rarely  admonished  any 
one  in  this  way;  but  when  he  did  it  was  done 
with  a  simplicity  and  earnestness  that  made  it 
something  never  to  be  forgotten." 

The  poetry  of  William  Cullen  Bryant  is 
largely  pervaded  by  the  spiritual  quality  of  the 
man's  mind  and  heart.  One  of  his  poems, 
especially,  reveals  his  spiritual  insight  as  well 
as  his  faith  in  immortality.  It  is  entitled  "The 
Future  Life"  and  inspired  by  a  longing  to  see 
again  the  wife  whom  he  loved  so  tenderly. 

How  shall  I  know  thee  in  the  sphere  which  keeps 

The  disembodied  spirits  of  the  dead, 
When  all  of  thee  that  time  could  wither  sleeps 

And  perishes  among  the  dust  we  tread? 

For  I  shall  feel  the  sting  of  ceaseless  pain 
If  there  I  meet  thy  gentle  presence  not; 

Nor  hear  the  voice  I  love,  nor  read  again 
In  thy  serenest  eyes  the  tender  thought. 

Will  not  thy  own  meek  heart  demand  me  there? 

That  heart  whose  fondest  throbs  to  me  were  given? 
My  name  on  earth  was  ever  in  thy  prayer, 

And  wilt  thou  never  utter  it  in  heaven? 


220  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

In  meadows  fanned  by  heaven's  life-breathing  wind, 
In  the  resplendence  of  that  glorious  sphere, 

And  larger  movements  of  the  unfettered  mind, 
Wilt  thou  forget  the  love  that  joined  us  here? 

The  love  that  lived  through  all  the  stormy  past, 
And  meekly  with  my  harsher  nature  bore, 

And  deeper  grew,  and  tenderer  to  the  last, 
Shall  it  expire  with  life,  and  be  no  more? 

A  happier  lot  than  mine,  and  larger  light, 
Await  thee  there;  for  thou  hast  bowed  thy  will 

In  cheerful  homage  to  the  rule  of  right, 
And  lovest  all,  and  renderest  good  for  ill. 

For  me,  the  sordid  cares  in  which  I  dwell 
Shrink  and  consume  my  heart,  as  heat  the  scroll; 

And  wrath  has  left  its  scar — that  fire  of  hell 
Has  left  its  frightful  scar  upon  my  soul. 

Yet  though  thou  wear'st  the  glory  of  the  sky, 
Wilt  thou  not  keep  the  same  beloved  name, 

The  same  fair  thoughtful  brow,  and  gentle  eye, 
Lovelier  in  heaven's  sweet  climate,  yet  the  same? 

Shalt  thou  not  teach  me,  in  that  calmer  home, 
The  wisdom  that  I  learned  so  ill  in  this — 

The  wisdom  which  is  love — till  I  become 
Thy  fit  companion  in  that  land  of  bliss? 


FRANCES    E.    WILLARD 


CHAPTER   XIX. 
FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD. 

IN  the  Capitol  at  Washington  Frances  Eliza- 
beth Willard  stands  in  the  great  circle  of  honor 
to  represent  the  prairie  State  of  Illinois.  In 
the  great  circle  of  reformers  gathering  through 
all  the  ages  her  place  is  forever  secure.  The 
early  home  life  of  Frances  Willard  was  pre- 
eminently Christian.  Many  years  afterward 
she  wrote : 

"Oh,  sacred  Sabbaths  of  our  childhood! 
Oh,  early  mornings  in  the  spring,  when  we  ran 
together  through  the  dewy  grass  or  laid  our 
ears  to  the  brown  bosom  of  the  earth  to  hear 
her  vibrant  breathing,  the  thrill  at  her  puls- 
ing heart!  Oh,  birds  that  sang  for  me,  and 
flowers  that  bloomed,  and  mother-love  that 
brooded  and  father-love  that  held !  And  God's 
sky  over  all,  and  himself  near  unto  us  every- 


224  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

where;  yea,  nearer  than  near!  Surely 
heavenly  and  without  end  are  the  blessings  of 
the  Lord  to  his  children !  Verily,  his  goodness 
and  his  mercy  are  with  us  all  our  days." 

Miss  Willard's  great  career  as  a  reformer 
had  its  root  and  growth  in  the  religious  charac- 
ter of  the  family  and  in  the  religious  develop- 
ment of  her  own  character  and  life.  The  chil- 
dren in  the  Willard  family  early  signed  the 
total  abstinence  pledge  inscribed  in  the  old 
family  Bible,  where  the  names  of  the  father 
and  the  mother  preceded  the  childish  auto- 
graphs. This  was  the  pledge : 

A  pledge  we  make,  no  wine  to  take, 
No  brandy  red  that  turns  the  head, 
Nor  fiery  rum  that  ruins  home, 
Nor  whiskey  hot  that  makes  the  sot, 
Nor  brewers'  beer,  for  that  we  fear, 
And  cider,  too,  will  never  do; 
To  quench  our  thirst  we  always  bring 
Cold  water  from  the  well  or  spring. 
So  here  we  pledge  perpetual  hate 
To  all  that  can  intoxicate. 

Fifty  years  after  Frances  Willard  had 
signed  this  pledge,  she  composed  another 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD.  225 

pledge,  especially  for  her  friends  among  the 
boys: 

I  pledge  my  brain  God's  thoughts  to  think, 

My  lips  no  fire  or  foam  to  drink 

From  alcoholic  cup, 

Nor  link  with  my  pure  breath  tobacco's  taint. 

For  have  I  not  a  right  to  be 

As  wholesome,  pure,  and  free  as  she 

Who  through  the  years  so  glad  and  free 

Moves  gently  onward  to  meet  me? 

A  knight  of  the  new  chivalry 

For  Christ  and  Temperance  I  would  be — 

In  Nineteen  Hundred;  come  and  see. 

Frances  Willard's  father  had  very  conserva- 
tive ideas  about  the  kind  of  books  proper  for 
young  people — and,  indeed,  for  older  people — 
to  read.  He  had  the  severest  prejudice  against 
fiction  of  any  kind  and  did  not  allow  his  chil- 
dren to  read  even  the  best  class  of  such  books. 
Frances  obeyed  him  implicitly  during  her 
childhood  and  until  she  had  reached  her  legal 
majority.  An  incident  which  occurred  on  her 
eighteenth  birthday  shows,  however,  that  the 
goodness  of  Frances  Willard  was  by  no  means 
goody-goody.  She  believed  that  every  human 
soul  had  a  right  to  itself  under  God.  On  her 


226  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

eighteenth  birthday  she  wrote  a  poem  in  which 
we  find  these  lines : 

The  clock  has  struck! 

Oh !  heaven  and  earth,  I  am  free ! 

And  here,  beneath  the  watching  stars,  I  feel 

New  inspiration  breathing  from  afar 

And  resting  on  my  spirit  as  it  ne'er 

Could  rest  before,  comes  joy  profound. 

And  now  I  feel  that  I'm  alone  and  free 

To  worship  and  obey  Jehovah  only. 

Toward  evening  of  this  day,  which  she  called 
"Freedom  day,"  Frances  took  her  seat  quietly 
in  her  mother's  rocking  chair  and  began  to 
read  Scott's  "Ivanhoe."  Her  father  came  in, 
and,  noticing  with  great  astonishment  the  book 
she  held,  grew  cloudy  of  brow. 

"I  thought  I  told  you  not  to  read  novels, 
Frances,"  he  remarked,  seriously. 

"So  you  did,  father,  and  in  the  main  I've 
kept  faith  with  you  in  this ;  but  you  forget 
what  day  it  is." 

"What  day,  indeed!  I  should  like  to  know 
if  the  day  has  anything  to  do  with  the  deed !" 

"Indeed  it  has — I  am  eighteen — I  am  of  age 
— I  am  now  to  do  what  7  think  right,  and  to 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD.  227 

read  this  fine  historical  story  is,  in  my  opinion, 
a  right  thing  for  me  to  do." 

Her  father  could  hardly  believe  his  ears. 
He  was  completely  taken  aback.  At  first  he  was 
inclined  to  take  the  book  away ;  but  that  would 
do  harm,  he  thought,  instead  of  good;  so  he 
wisely  concluded  to  see  this  novel  action  from 
the  funny  side,  and  laughed  heartily  over  the 
situation,  her  older  brother,  Oliver,  doing  the 
same,  and  both  saying  in  one  breath,  "A  chip 
of  the  old  block." 

Although  she  was  brought  up  in  such  an  at- 
mosphere of  religion  and  prayer,  it  was  not 
until  the  leisure  of  convalescence  from  a  se- 
rious illness  that  prevented  her  presence  at  the 
graduating  exercises  of  her  class  in  North- 
western University  that  Frances  Willard  posi- 
tively entered  upon  the  religious  life.  This  is 
her  own  record  of  that  important  and  signifi- 
cant occurrence : 

"It  was  one  night  in  June,  1859.  I  was 
nineteen  years  old  and  was  lying  on  my  bed 
in  my  home  at  Evanston,  111.,  ill  with  typhoid 
fever.  The  doctor  had  said  that  the  crisis 
would  soon  arrive,  and  I  had  overheard  his 
words.  Mother  was  watching  in  the  next 


228  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

room.  My  whole  soul  was  intent  as  two  voices 
seemed  to  speak  within  me,  one  of  them  say- 
ing, 'My  child,  give  me  thy  heart.  I  called  thee 
long  by  joy,  I  call  thee  now  by  chastisement; 
but  I  have  called  thee  always  and  only  because 
I  love  thee  with  an  everlasting  love.'  The 
other  said,  'Surely,  you  who  are  so  resolute  and 
strong  will  not  break  down  now  because  of 
physical  feebleness.  You  are  a  reasoner  and 
never  yet  were  you  convinced  of  the  reasonable- 
ness of  Christianity.  Hold  out  now,  and  you 
will  feel  when  you  get  well  just  as  you  used  to 
feel/ 

"One  presence  was  to  me  warm,  sunny,  safe, 
with  an  impression  as  of  snow-white  wings; 
the  other  cold,  dismal,  dark,  with  the  flutter  of 
a  bat.  The  controversy  did  not  seem  brief ;  in 
my  weakness  such  a  strain  would  doubtless  ap- 
pear longer  than  it  was.  But  at  last,  solemnly, 
and  with  my  whole  heart,  I  said,  not  in 
spoken  words,  but  in  the  deeper  language  of 
consciousness,  'If  God  lets  me  get  well,  I'll  try 
to  be  a  Christian  girl ;'  but  this  resolution  did 
not  bring  peace ;  'You  must  at  once  declare  this 
resolution/  said  the  inward  voice. 

"Strange  as  it  seems  and  complete  as  has 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD.  229 

always  been  my  frankness  toward  my  dear 
mother,  far  beyond  what  is  usual  even  between 
mother  and  child,  it  cost  me  a  greater  humbling 
of  my  pride  to  tell  her  than  the  resolution  had 
cost  of  self-surrender  or  than  any  other  utter- 
ance of  my  whole  life  has  involved.  After  a 
hard  battle,  in  which  I  lifted  up  my  soul  to  God 
for  strength,  I  faintly  called  her  from  the  next 
room,  and  said :  'Mother,  I  wish  to  tell  you  that 
if  God  lets  me  get  well,  I'll  try  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian girl.' 

"She  took  my  hand,  knelt  beside  my  bed, 
and  softly  wept  and  prayed.  I  then  turned  my 
face  to  the  wall  and  sweetly  slept. 

"That  winter  we  had  revival  services  in  the 
old  Methodist  church  at  Evanston.  Doctor 
(now  Bishop)  Foster  was  president  of  the 
University,  and  his  sermons,  with  those  of 
Doctors  Dempster  and  Bannister  and  others, 
deeply  stirred  my  heart.  I  had  convalesced 
slowly  and  spent  several  weeks  at  Forest 
Home,  so  that  these  meetings  seemed  to  be  my 
first  opportunity  of  declaring  my  new  alle- 
giance. The  very  earliest  invitation  to  go  for- 
ward, kneel  at  the  altar,  and  be  prayed  for  was 
heeded  by  me.  Waiting  for  no  one,  counseling 


230  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

with  no  one,  I  went  alone  along  the  aisle  with 
my  heart  beating  so  loud  that  I  thought  I  could 
see  as  well  as  hear  it  beat  as  I  moved  forward. 
One  of  the  most  timid,  shrinking,  and  sensitive 
of  natures,  what  it  meant  to  me  to  go  forward 
thus,  with  my  student  friends  gazing  upon  me, 
can  never  be  told.  I  had  been  known  as  'skep- 
tical,' and  prayers  (of  which  I  then  spoke 
lightly)  had  been  asked  for  me  in  the  church 
the  year  before.  For  fourteen  nights  in  succes- 
sion I  thus  knelt  at  the  altar,  expecting  some 
utter  transformation — some  portion  of  heaven 
to  be  placed  in  my  inmost  heart,  as  I  have  seen 
the  box  of  valuables  placed  in  the  corner-stone 
of  a  building  and  firmly  set,  plastered  over,  and 
fixed  in  its  place  forever.  This  is  what  I  had 
determined  must  be  done,  and  was  loath  to  give 
it  up.  I  prayed  and  agonized;  but  what  I 
sought  did  not  occur. 

"One  night  when  I  returned  to  my  room 
baffled,  weary,  and  discouraged  and  knelt  be- 
side my  bed,  it  came  to  me  quietly  that  this  was 
not  the  way ;  that  my  'conversion,'  my  'turning 
about,'  my  'religious  experience'  (re-ligare,  to 
bind  again),  had  reached  its  crisis  on  that  sum- 
mer night  when  I  said,  'Yes'  to  God.  A  quiet 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD.  231 

certitude  of  this  pervaded  my  consciousness, 
and  the  next  night  I  told  th'e  public  congrega- 
tion so,  gave  my  name  to  the  church  as  a  pro- 
bationer, and  after  holding  this  relation  for  a 
year,  waiting  for  my  sister  Mary  who  joined 
later  to  fill  out  her  six  months'  probation,  I  was 
baptized  and  joined  the  church,  May  5,  1861, 
'in  full  connection.'  Meanwhile  I  had  regu- 
larly led,  since  that  memorable  June,  a  prayer- 
ful life  (which  I  had  not  done  for  some  months 
previous  to  that  time),  studied  my  Bible,  and 
as  I  believe  evinced  by  my  daily  life  that  I  was 
taking  counsel  of  the  heavenly  powers. 
Prayer-meeting,  class-meeting,  and  church 
services  were  most  pleasant  to  me,  and  I  be- 
came an  active  worker,  seeking  to  lead  others 
to  Christ.  I  had  learned  to  think  of  and  be- 
lieve in  God  in  terms  of  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  . 
What  Paul  says  of  Christ  is  what  I  say;  the 
love  John  felt,  it  is  my  dearest  wish  to  cherish." 
How  that  Christian  life,  thus  begun,  grew  in 
fulness  and  power  the  whole  world  that  heard 
her  and  felt  her  influence  can  testify.  Many 
years  after  that  conversion  she  was  able  to 
write :  "The  life  of  God  flowing  into  the  soul 
of  man  is  the  only  life,  and  all  my  being  sets 


232  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

toward  him,  as  the  rivers  to  the  sea.  Celestial 
things  grow  dearer  to  me  every  day,  and  I 
grow  poorer  in  my  own  eyes  save  as  God  gives 
to  me.  I  still  care  a  little  too  much  for  the 
good  words  of  the  good,  but  God  helps  me  even 
in  that." 

The  end  of  the  career  of  Frances  Willard,  so 
far  as  her/  earthly  life  was  concerned,  was  as 
truly  religious  as  in  the  great  days  of  her 
power,  when  she  laid  every  wreath  and  crown 
bestowed  upon  her  at  the  feet  of  her  Lord.  As 
she  lay  upon  her  last  bed  of  sickness,  after  a 
hard  day,  she  suddenly  gazed  intently  on  a  pic- 
ture of  the  Christ  directly  opposite  her  bed. 
Her  eyes  seemed  to  meet  those  of  the  compas- 
sionate Saviour,  and  with  the  old  eloquence  in 
her  voice,  in  the  stillness  she  said : 

I  am  Merlin,  and  I  am  dying, 
But  I'll  follow  the  Gleam. 

And  a  little  later  she  said  to  the  friends  who 
gathered  about  her,  "Oh,  let  me  go  away,  let 
me  be  in  peace;  I  am  so  safe  with  him.  He 
has  other  worlds,  and  I  want  to  go."  And  so, 
still  following  the  Christ  Gleam  with  a  brave 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD.  233 

heart  and  a  courageous  step,  the  dauntless  soul 
went  on  to  follow  her  Lord  to  all  worlds 
whithersoever  he  might  lead  her. 


BENJAMIN    HARRISON 


CHAPTER   XX. 

BENJAMIN     HARRISON. 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON — heir  of  a  distin- 
guished line  in  American  history,  stretching 
from  that  other  Benjamin  Harrison  who 
signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  with  a 
genial  wit  and  a  cheerful  daring  that  has  never 
been  forgotten,  on  through  another  President 
Harrison,  who  was  first  a  famous  general — 
was  as  well  known  as  a  Christian  as  he  was  as  a 
statesman.  For  a  great  many  years  Mr.  Har- 
rison was  a  devout  member  and  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Indian- 
apolis. His  membership  in  the  church  was 
not  like  that  of  some  other  public  men,  merely 
honorary  and  formal.  He  was  thoroughly  in- 
terested in  the  church,  had  its  interests  on  his 
heart,  held  himself  to  a  keen  responsibility  not 
only  for  attendance  on  its  services,  but  for 
faithfully  fulfilling  all  his  obligations  to  the 
church.  General  Harrison  could  have  uttered 


238  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

without  any  cant  or  meaningless  formality  the 
words  which  often  mean  nothing,  "I  belong  to 
the  church." 

As  is  well  known,  Mr.  Harrison  was  not  a 
demonstrative  man,  and  in  his  religion  as  in 
other  matters  he  was  inclined  to  be  modest  and 
retiring.  But  the  old  proverb,  "Still  water 
runs  deep,"  was  true  of  Benjamin  Harrison  in 
relation  to  his  devout  love  for  Christ,  his 
supreme  faith  in  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God, 
and  his  earnest  determination  to  do  all  within 
his  power  to  help  on  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom  of  his  divine  Lord. 

On  one  occasion  General  Harrison,  stand- 
ing in  the  vestibule  of  the  church  after  a  ser- 
vice, incidentally  overheard  a  conversation  be- 
tween a  very  bright,  keen-brained,  young  man 
who  had  attracted  his  eye  and  another  man 
who  had  spoken  to  him  about  becoming  a 
Christian  and  coming  into  the  church.  His  ear 
caught  the  young  man's  reply,  spoken  in  a 
serious  and  he  thought  rather  a  regretful  tone, 
to  the  effect  that  he  was  not  able  to  accept 
Christianity,  as  there  seemed  to  him  insur- 
mountable difficulties  in  the  way  of  believing 
the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  and  as  Chris- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.         239 

tianity  was  founded  on  that,  it  did  not  seem 
possible  for  him  to  become  a  Christian. 

This  young  man  was  poor,  almost  entirely 
unknown  in  the  city,  living  in  a  modest  room 
in  a  boarding-house.  We  can  imagine  his  as- 
tonishment, two  or  three  evenings  later,  when 
there  came  a  knock  at  his  door,  and  Benjamin 
Harrison — the  most  distinguished  lawyer  in 
Indiana,  at  that  moment  a  candidate  for  the 
United  States  Senate  before  the  legislature 
then  in  session,  an  office  to  which  he  was 
elected  a  few  days  later,  and  a  man  frequently 
spoken  of  as  a  future  President  of  the  United 
States — was  shown  into  his  room.  General 
Harrison  at  once  made  him  feel  at  home,  how- 
ever, by  frankly  telling  him  that  he  had  acci- 
dentally overheard  his  conversation  at  the 
church  on  the  Sunday  previous  and  th?t  it  had 
greatly  interested  him  for  the  reason  that  he 
himself  had  formerly  had  the  same  difficulties, 
they  had  given  him  great  trouble,  and  naturally 
he  felt  a  brotherly  interest  in  any  young  man 
who  was  troubled  in  the  same  way  he  had  been. 

General  Harrison  followed  up  this  statement 
with  the  further  statement  that,  having  thought 
the  matter  through  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion 


240  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

for  himself,  until  he  had  rested  his  faith  upon 
the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  and  had  proved 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour,  he  had 
thought  that  perhaps  this  experience  had  pecu- 
liarly fitted  him  to  be  of  some  help  to  another 
man  who  found  himself  in  a  like  situation. 

Of  course  the  young  man  was  entirely  dis- 
armed, and  could  not  help  being  softened  and 
mellowed  into  an  openness  of  mind  and  heart 
to  receive  teaching  under  such  circumstances. 

With  the  keen,  sharp  skill  of  an  able  lawyer, 
softened  by  the  kindness  of  Christian  brother- 
hood, Benjamin  Harrison  drew  out  all  the 
young  man's  mind  and  heart  on  the  great  sub- 
ject in  hand.  He  soon  saw  every  point  of  diffi- 
culty; and  as  they  came  to  the  front,  one  by 
one,  with  logical  clearness  he  disposed  of  them, 
never  leaving  a  point  until  his  young  friend 
was  entirely  satisfied  that  his  objection  was 
gone.  And  so  they  talked,  on  and  on,  utterly 
oblivious  of  time,  until  at  last  the  young  man 
admitted  that  all  his  objections  had  been  an- 
swered; that  every  difficulty  had  been  cleared 
away;  and  with  deep  emotion  announced  his 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  his  determination  to 
accept  him  and  serve  him  as  his  Lord. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.         241 

When  at  last  the  conversation  was  brought 
to  this  happy  conclusion  they  arose  to  their 
feet,  and  when  the  General  looked  at  his  watch 
he  found  to  his  amazement  that  it  was  some 
hours  past  midnight  and  was  nearing  the  morn- 
ing. So  completely  given  up  to  the  great  pur- 
pose of  winning  this  young  man  to  accept 
Christ  had  been  this  famous  statesman  and 
distinguished  lawyer,  that  he  had  been  utterly 
oblivious  to  the  passing  of  time.  All  that  even- 
ing, for  hours,  his  political  friends  had  been 
searching  for  him,  that  they  might  counsel 
with  him  regarding  his  candidacy  for  the 
United  States  Senate;  but  he  had  been  utterly 
forgetful  of  his  own  political  interests  and  lost 
in  the  intense  earnestness  with  which  he  had 
entered  into  the  spiritual  interests  of  another. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  President  Harrison, 
Dr.  W.  C.  Gray,  the  veteran  editor  of  The  In- 
terior, who  had  been  a  school  friend  of  both 
Harrison  and  his  wife,  related  a  very  interest- 
ing story  of  a  visit  which  he  paid  to  the  Harri- 
sons while  Benjamin  Harrison  was  United 
States  Senator  and  but  a  little  while  before 
he  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency.  During 
a  conversation  Dr.  Gray  said  to  him,  "Sena- 


242  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

tor,  you  bear  a  historic  name — historically 
the  most  eminent  of  any  American  citizen; 
you  possess  abilities  which  I  estimate  as  equal 
to  the  best,  if  not  the  very  best,  among  Ameri- 
can statesmen.  Your  record  is  worthy  of 
your  name.  You  live  in  a  doubtful  State, 
which  you  can  carry  in  a  Presidential  contest. 
On  no  man  does  the  shadow  of  the  Presidency 
fall  so  clearly  as  it  does  upon  you,  and  yet  your 
friends  think  you  are  at  a  disadvantage  in  one 
particular."  And  then  Dr.  Gray  referred  to 
the  magnetic  qualities  of  successful  political 
leaders,  and  especially  other  statesmen  who 
were  then  aspirants.  Of  the  result  of  that  con- 
versation Dr.  Gray  says,  "In  the  very  kindly 
conversation  which  followed  I  discovered  that 
he  was  not  troubling  himself  with  ambitious 
aspirations,  that  at  the  bottom  he  was  a  man  of 
humble  spirit  and  yet  of  a  self-respect  which 
forbade  him  to  be  a  courtier  even  to  the  Ameri- 
can people — that  though  he  was  a  great  man, 
he  was  unconsciously  great;  and  though  his 
heart  was  large  and  generous,  he  would  carry 
it  in  his  bosom  and  not  upon  his  sleeve.  It  was 
to  me  a  memorable  interview,  which  rilled  me 
with  deep  friendship  for  him.  Boy  or  man, 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.         243 

there  was  no  haughtiness  in  him,  only  a  natural 
reserve  and  self-poise.  .  .  .  He  won  his 
great  success  without  the  compromise  of  a 
hair's  breadth  of  his  convictions  of  right  and 
duty." 

General  Harrison,  as  he  grew  in  political 
honors  and  in  the  regard  of  the  public,  did 
what  very  few  public  men  do — he  kept  pace  in 
his  interest  in  the  larger  affairs  of  Christianity 
and  the  world-wide  interests  of  the  great 
branch  of  the  Christian  church  to  which  he  be- 
longed. In  connection  with  the  administration 
of  the  larger  affairs  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  which  he  was  the  most  famous 
member,  he  frequently  occupied  a  place  of  hon- 
orable service.  He  was  seen  in  the  meetings  of 
the  General  Assembly  and  took  part  in  the  dis- 
cussions of  that  great  body.  He  took  great  in- 
terest in  the  missionary  work  of  the  church, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  He  was  also  on  the 
Assembly's  committee  on  the  revision  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith.  This  committee  paid  a 
most  loving  tribute  to  his  memory  after  his 
death.  In  the  course  of  that  tribute  it  is  said : 
"His  appointment  as  a  member  of  this  commit- 
tee was  made  at  a  time  when  he  was  declining 


244  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

high  public  and  official  honors  and  when  he  was 
deeply  engaged  in  the  solution  of  questions  that 
affected  the  welfare  and  peace  of  nations;  but 
he  did  not  hesitate,  though  at  much  personal 
sacrifice,  to  respond  to  the  duty  the  church  of 
his  choice  and  love  had  laid  upon  him." 

Two  or  three  years  before  his  death,  at  a 
time  when  he  was  perhaps  the  most  distin- 
guished American  citizen  living,  Mr.  Harrison 
identified  himself  in  a  most  unique  way  with 
universal  Christianity  by  accepting  the  invita- 
tion to  preside  at  the  Ecumenical  Missionary 
Conference  held  in  New  York  City,  beginning 
April  21,  1900.  His  opening  speech  was  a 
very  remarkable  production  in  many  ways  and 
was  full  of  Christian  enthusiasm.  Many  para- 
graphs in  that  speech  are  like  windows  into  the 
devout  heart  and  spiritual  quality  of  the  man. 
In  the  opening  of  his  address  he  says : 

"Hours  for  devotional  exercise  are  assigned. 
The  greatest  need  of  the  foreign  field  is  a  re- 
vived, reconsecrated,  and  unified  home  church. 
And  this  conference  will  be  fruitful  and  suc- 
cessful in  proportion  as  it  promotes  those  ends. 
There  will  be,,  I  hope,  much  prayer  for  an  out- 
pouring of  God's  Spirit." 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.         245 

Mr.  Harrison's  tribute  to  Jesus  as  King  is 
graphically  beautiful.  He  says : 

"The  highest  conception  that  has  ever  en- 
tered the  mind  of  man  is  that  of  God  as  the 
Father  of  all  men — the  one  blood — the  uni- 
versal brotherhood.  It  was  not  evolved,  but 
revealed.  The  natural  man  lives  to  be  minis- 
tered unto — he  lays  his  imposts  upon  others. 
He  buys  slaves  that  they  may  fan  him  to  sleep, 
bring  him  the  jeweled  cup,  dance  before  him, 
and  die  in  the  arena  for  his  sport.  Into  such  a 
world  there  came  a  King  'not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister.'  The  rough  winds 
fanned  his  sleep;  he  drank  of  the  mountain 
brook,  and  made  not  the  water  wine  for  him- 
self; he  would  not  use  his  power  to  stay  his 
own  hunger,  but  had  compassion  on  the  multi- 
tude. Them  that  he  had  bought  with  a  great 
price  he  called  no  more  servants,  but  friends. 
He  entered  the  bloody  arena  alone,  and,  dying, 
broke  all  chains  and  brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light. 

"Here  is  the  perfect  altruism;  here  the  true 
appraisal  of  men.  Ornaments  of  gold  and 
gems,  silken  robes,  houses,  lands,  stocks  and 
bonds — these  are  tare  when  men  are  weighed. 


246  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

Where  else  is  there  a  scale  so  true?  Where  a 
brotherhood  so  wide  and  perfect?  Labor  is 
made  noble — the  King  credits  the  smallest  ser- 
vice. His  values  are  relative ;  he  takes  account 
of  the  per  cent,  when  tribute  is  brought  into  his 
treasury.  No  coin  of  love  is  base  or  small  to 
him.  The  widow's  mite  he  sets  in  his  crown. 
Life  is  sweetened;  the  poor  man  becomes  of 
account.  Where  else  is  found  a  philosophy  of 
life  so  sweet  and  adaptable — a  philosophy  of 
death  so  comforting?" 

Later  on  during  the  great  missionary  confer- 
ence, when  President  McKinley  and  Governor 
Roosevelt  addressed  the  members,  Mr.  Harri- 
son in  reply  uttered  this  significant  paragraph : 
"It  is  reported  that  the  aged  German  Chancel- 
lor, Prince  Hohenlohe,  recently  said  as  he 
looked  about  over  the  world,  its  struggles,  and 
strifes,  and  distress,  and  grief,  that  it  seemed 
to  him  as  if  that  geological  era  had  returned 
when  the  saurians,  gigantic  monsters,  walked 
the  earth  in  their  devouring  forms.  He  was 
addressing,  I  think,  a  meeting  of  scholars,  and 
he  turned  to  scholarship  as  giving  him  hope  for 
a  world  that  seemed  to  be  greedy  for  the  de- 
struction of  its  own  members.  Ah!  my 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.         247 

friends,  not  scholarship,  not  invention,  not  any 
of  these  noble  and  creditable  developments  of 
our  era — not  to  these,  but  to  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must 
we  turn  for  the  hope  that  men  may  be  delivered 
from  this  consuming  greed  and  selfishness." 

But  perhaps  in  the  closing  words  of  his  final 
address  at  this  remarkable  conference  Mr. 
Harrison  uttered  his  tenderest  Christian  testi- 
mony :  "We  part  with  you  in  sorrow,  and  yet 
bitter  as  they  are,  the  Christian  partings  always 
are  cheered  by  the  promise  of  the  great  gather- 
ing where  all  who  love  the  Lord  shall  see  each 
other  again.  We  thank  you  for  your  gracious 
and  instructive  words;  we  thank  you  for  the 
inspiration  you  have  given  us;  we  hope  that 
you  have  caught  from  our  hearts  some  of  the 
love  we  bear  you,  and  that  you  will  go  back  to 
the  Lord's  appointed  work  stronger  for  our 
prayers  and  for  our  sympathy. 

"And  now,  as  we  bring  this  meeting  to  a 
close,  may  I  not  assure  you  all  that  the  prayers 
of  the  Church  in  America  will  be  offered  with 
a  frequency  and  a  fervor  they  have  never  had 
before  and  that  the  pockets  and  the  purses  of 
the  American  people  will  be  opened  with  a  gen- 


248  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

erosity  they  have  never  known  before  to  con- 
duct this  great  world  work — a  work  which  is 
to  bring  in  the  day  when  the  kingdoms  of  the 
earth  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord. 

"God  bless  you  all,  abide  with  you  in  your 
places,  strengthen  your  hearts,  fill  them  with 
the  converts  that  he  knows  so  well  how  to  con- 
vert, and  give  you  success  in  your  devoted 
efforts  to  make  known  his  name  to  those  who 
are  in  darkness." 

Surely  no  one  can  read  these  utterances 
without  feeling  the  pulsations  of  a-  great  warm 
heart  full  of  love  for  Christ. 


THE  END. 


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